Giga Omni Media, the company that owns news blog GigaOM and its related sites, announced today that it has raised $4.5 million in additional funding.
The last few months have been busy for Om Malik’s fledgling media empire. He acquired mobile blog jkOnTheRun in July, followed by TheAppleBlog just a few weeks ago. He also promoted chief operating officer Paul Walborsky to chief executive, and announced some new syndication deals, including one with The New York Times (where VentureBeat will also be syndicated). More surprisingly, Malik also announced that he has become a venture partner at True Ventures, GigaOM’s main venture backer. (Despite Malik’s assurances, the role seems like a bit of a distraction, and a complication for GigaOM’s venture coverage.)
Malik says the new funding will go towards expanding the company’s events and briefings, as well as adding to its portfolio, which means starting or acquiring even more blogs. The money also gives Giga Omni Media a bit of a cushion in case the economic downturn continues. The round was led by new investor Alloy Ventures, with True Ventures participating, along with angel investors Rakesh Mathur, Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajamaran.
This is pretty heartening news. Sure, Malik is ostensibly our competitor, but he was also an early inspiration for VentureBeat. It’s nice to see a blog network growing aggressively despite the economic chill, in contrast to the cutbacks at other sites.
