Financial news can get a little tiresome, but it’s hard to become bored when $10 million is involved; that’s the amount that Associated Content just received in a round of funding.
As a sort of user-generated news site, Associated Content’s description of itself as “The People’s Media Company” seems reasonable. alarm:clock even reports, “Associated Content provides cash bonuses to its best contributors,” which sounds quite nice. Yet despite these cheery aspects, the company is a bit controversial.
Not too long ago, people started asking questions about its intent – was Associated Content out to game Google? No solid conclusions were ever reached, but the story was covered everywhere from Murdok to USA Today.
In any case, it seems that Canaan Partners doesn’t have a problem with the way Associated Content is run; that firm led the funding round. “We are very enthusiastic about the large market opportunity, the business momentum, and the great team they have assembled,” stated Warren Lee of Canaan Partners. “We are excited about helping the Associated Content team continue to refine its offerings and extend its reach.”
And as alarm:clock pointed out, this may start a trend that would be beneficial to an entire business model – earlier this week, NowPublic, a “participatory news network,” also received funding.