Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » American Public Media http://pulse2.com Sat, 26 May 2012 21:27:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 American Public Media Acquires Community-Funded Reporting Company Spot.us http://pulse2.com/2011/12/03/american-public-media-acquires-community-funded-reporting-company-spot-us/ http://pulse2.com/2011/12/03/american-public-media-acquires-community-funded-reporting-company-spot-us/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:24:46 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=53964 Continue reading →]]>
American Public Media’s Public Insight Network has announced that they have acquired Spot.us, a community-funded reporting service. Spot.us is an open source project that has “community powered reporting.” The public can earn a commission through Spot.us and participate with journalists to do report on important and overlooked topics.

Spot.us founder David Cohn will stay on board in a limited capacity. APM’s SVP of Digital Innovation Joaquin Alvarado will oversee the day-to-day operations of Spot.us.

“Spot.Us and PIN both believe in the power of the independent voice in journalism – from both journalists and sources, making the acquisition an ideal move,” stated Alvarado. “PIN believes in the important work of Spot.Us and we will explore opportunities to continue to drive the effectiveness and relevancy of the site even further in the future.”

Spot.us has a platform for freelance journalists and organizations to pitch topics to the public. If the public finds it news-worthy, then they will be able to contribute funding to the project. When a journalist meets their funding goal, they will finish it and public their project on Spot.us. Spot.us was founded in 2008 with a $340,000 grant that Cohn won from The Knight Foundation.

[Tech.li]

]]> http://pulse2.com/2011/12/03/american-public-media-acquires-community-funded-reporting-company-spot-us/feed/ 0 Gather.com Raises $5.3 Million http://pulse2.com/2009/06/14/gathercom-raises-53-million/ http://pulse2.com/2009/06/14/gathercom-raises-53-million/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:24:48 +0000 Amit Chowdhry http://pulse2.com/?p=16576 Continue reading →]]> gather-logo
Gather.com is a service focused on making new friends and forming new social circles.  The company is based in Boston, Mass. and has announced that they have raised $5.3 million in funding from Allen & Co., American Public Media, Jim Manzi (former CEO of Lotus), Jack Connors (former CEO of Hill Holiday), Kevin McClatchy, Andrew Tobias, and the Gerace family.

Gather had increase sales of about 49% in the first quarter over the same period about a year ago.  Gather raised VC funding because they needed additional capital to help fund operations.  Based on the current run rate, the company expects to be profitable by early 2010.

This round of funding puts the company’s total at about $25 million.  Most of the investors that participated in this round had participated in previous rounds as well.

[via NEVC Funding]

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