BringMeTheNews Raises $1 Million in Capital

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- BringMeTheNews, which launched in September 2009, has raised $1 million in capital from investors The Dolan Company (NYSE: DM) and Padilla Speer Beardsley and plans to expand its offerings in Minnesota and beyond.

BringMeTheNews employs a team of twelve people who gather local news from hundreds of online sources and distribute it through a network of online and social media sites.  In addition, BringMeTheNews produces a series of radio newscasts, broadcast more than 100 times daily on a growing list of more than a dozen stations including several Clear Channel stations in the Twin Cities and others in Rochester, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Bemidji, Marshall and Warroad.  Its web site is www.BringMeTheNews.com.

"This investment and partnership offered by The Dolan Company and Padilla Speer Beardsley will help us grow BringMeTheNews further and faster while offering us critical expertise on our board," said Rick Kupchella, founder of BringMeTheNews.  "We expect to use this investment to expand beyond Minnesota as well as broaden the content we offer to other categories."

In addition to looking at other growth markets, BringMeTheNews will launch a sports division later this month, and will look for ways to grow its footprint in its home state of Minnesota. Next month, BringMeTheNews plans to host a gubernatorial debate in conjunction with the Citizens League and the LEAD Project, a nonprofit organization that engages young professionals in the charitable and philanthropic communities of the Twin Cities.

As part of their investment, James P. Dolan, CEO and founder of The Dolan Company (www.dolanmedia.com), and Lynn Casey, Chair and CEO of Padilla Speer Beardsley (www.psbpr.com), will join the board of BringMeTheNews.  Dolan, who was recently named to Minnesota's Business Hall of Fame, is a former journalist, and successful businessman who worked for Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and on Wall Street for several years before starting his company in 1992.  Padilla Speer Beardsley is one of the Twin Cities' largest public relations companies. Casey, the third chief executive since the firm's founding in 1961, also serves on the executive committee of The Minneapolis Foundation and chairs the Meet Minneapolis board.  They will join a board of directors that includes Kupchella and Don Smithmier CEO of GoKart Labs (www.gokartlabs.com), the digital innovation company that created the BringMeTheNews web platform.  Smithmier is a founding partner of BringMeTheNews.

Dolan said he was attracted to BringMeTheNews by Kupchella's entrepreneurial zeal as well as by the company's innovative business model.  

"Rick and Don have developed a very real multimedia business that grew to impressive size less than a year after launch," Dolan said.  "We think they are onto something big and we are very pleased to be a part of it."

According to Casey, involvement in BringMeTheNews offers an insider's view into new and emerging ways to deliver news content to consumers.

"We have a lot of respect for the model, which showcases reporting from respected sources, credits and links the reader back to those sources, and relies on sponsored content instead of traditional advertising to generate revenues," Casey said. "All that fits within Padilla's mission of helping organizations communicate with the people who are important to their success."

Kupchella is an award-winning former investigative reporter and news anchor for KARE-11 TV in the Twin Cities. Prior to his 20 years with KARE, he worked eight years in the news business in New York; Washington, D.C.; Michigan and Kentucky. He is a winner of more than a dozen Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award and the Eric Sevareid Award.  Kupchella is also a partner in the i.e. network, a public affairs, communications and marketing firm in Minneapolis and he has written several books for children.

About BringMeTheNews

Founded in September 2009 by former investigative reporter & TV News anchor Rick Kupchella, the BringMeTheNews team of journalists gathers and provides news from hundreds of sources and delivers it through many platforms including online, social media sites, and 16 daily newscasts on radio stations across Minnesota. BringMeTheNews is sponsored by OptumHealth, The Minnesota Association of Realtors and Explore Minnesota. For more information go to www.BringMeTheNews.com

SOURCE BringMeTheNews