SALT LAKE CITY & MALVERN, Pa. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 1, 2011 — Matchbin announced today that it has closed its first institutional equity financing led by New York-based growth equity investor Level Equity. Greycroft Partners and vSpring Capital are co-investors in the $10 million round.
Simultaneously, the business acquired NAVTEQ Media Solution’s Radio and Television Group, closing a $12 million credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank. The combined company, aptly named Radiate Media, provides critical localized content, digital content management solutions and an advertising platform to over 6,000 local and national advertisers through its growing network of over 2,000 media partners.
Chris Rothey, who founded and took Traffic.com public before being acquired by NAVTEQ in 2007, has joined Radiate Media as CEO. "Technology and evolving content distribution models continue to rapidly change the way advertisers, large and small, promote themselves in a quantifiable fashion," said Rothey. "Our collective offering will help our media partners leverage their strong and enduring relationships with local businesses to provide both today’s and tomorrow's performance advertising solutions."
Radiate Media will continue to provide industry-leading traffic and content solutions, such as CommuteVantage, to the radio and television space through an exclusive agreement with NAVTEQ. Additionally, Radiate Media will offer its Editionals content management solution (CMS) for media partners, and MatchLocal directory publishing platform and local search engine optimized (SEO) websites for merchants.
The MatchLocal platform allows media partners to provide web-based, mobile and digitally integrated marketing opportunities to local businesses in their area. "Merchants are looking to multiple advertising avenues to promote their business, particularly at the local level," added Hal Widlansky, former CEO of Matchbin and Radiate Media’s new president and chief operating officer. "Radiate Media is positioning itself to be the leading innovator for local digital commerce and the growing local advertising market."
"We are excited to back Chris Rothey in the creation of Radiate Media. Their business model, scale and deep technology is unique in the local advertising space," said Ben Levin, partner at Level Equity. “We are attracted to businesses that are changing the way business is done in large and evolving markets. Radiate has cracked the code on how to enable the massive base of incumbent media properties to access the shift in spend to measurable and locally delivered advertising solutions. Chris is a world-class executive who has over a decade of experience providing local and mobile products. The opportunity to sponsor the acquisition of a highly valuable asset he founded over a decade ago and integrate it with a technologically innovative and rapidly growing local advertising business is compelling."
About Radiate Media (Formerly Matchbin and NAVTEQ Media Solution’s Radio and Television Group)
Radiate Media ( www.radiatemedia.com) provides industry-leading local content, content management services, and cloud-based digital publishing and local commerce solutions. Radiate Media serves over 6,000 local merchant and national advertisers through over 2,000 radio, TV and print partners, and has over 230 employees in Malvern, Pa., Salt Lake City, Utah, and other offices across the United States.
About Level Equity
Level Equity ( www.levelequity.com) is a growth equity investor. The firm invests in high growth technology, media and Internet innovators serving large markets. Level Equity is based in New York and invests in its target industries worldwide.
About Greycroft Partners
Greycroft Partners ( www.greycroftpartners.com) is a venture capital partnership, formed to invest in promising digital media companies. We serve the founders and investors who have chosen us as their partners, and help them to build large, successful businesses.
About vSpring Capital
vSpring ( www.vspring.com) is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $400 million of committed capital under management. They target primarily information technology and life sciences companies headquartered in the Rocky Mountain region.
Contact:
Radiate Media
Craig Cleveland, 801-839-2196 ext. 603
