Blogwatcher Gather.com gathers some capital
The Web start-up Gather has rounded up some venture capital dollars to help it in its quest to provide a one-stop shop for readers and writers in the blogosphere, according to a story in Saturday's Boston Globe.
Next week the company plans to announce a $6 million infusion from investors led by Jim Manzi, the former head of Lotus Development, and former Sen. Bill Bradley's investment bank, Allen & and Co. , the Globe reported. Both men will also join Gather's board.
The start-up's site, Gather.com, is in a beta state at the moment, and a formal launch is set for February or March. It is joining a crowded field of players, including Technorati, Bloglines and Digg, that seek to bring some order to the vast proliferation of blogs. What sets Gather apart is that it plans to recruit bloggers with the promise that they will get a share of the company's advertising revenue, the Globe said.
'As our audience scales," Gather founder Tom Gerace told the Globe, "our authors will see their earnings increase." The site currently has about 8,500 readers.
Jonathan Skillings is managing editor of CNET News, based in the Boston bureau. He's been with CNET since 2000, after a decade in tech journalism at the IDG News Service, PC Week, and an AS/400 magazine. He's also been a soldier and a schoolteacher. E-mail Jon.
