The Takeaway
Media/Telecom

News is Not a Venture-Backed Business

Another week, another news site raising venture capital. Make that two. Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei’s new business and politics venture raised a $10 million series A from Lerer Hippeau Ventures and NBC. Cheddar, a video news network, raised $10 million more from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ribbit Capital and Comcast. Recently, Josh Topolsky, who helped launch The Verge, raised $5 million from RRE and a handful of other firms for a publication called The Outline.

You could read these announcements as a sign that VCs are bullish about the news business. I see them as a sign that the news industry is still very much on the wrong track.

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