Automattic which is the company behind WordPress.com and is usually the one being invested in has made an investment themselves in a company called OwnLocal based out of Austin, Texas. The company has existed since 2007 and is built around publications by providing the tools necessary for newspapers to own their local market, hence the name. Liz Gannes of AllThingsD was the first to break the story and managed to get this quote out of Matt regarding the investment.
Their approach is highly complementary to our own goals of making it easy for anyone in the world to have a beautiful Web site
It’s an interesting investment considering local newspapers appear to be dying by the day. But OwnLocal is doing so well that despite the total amount of 2 million dollars thus far in funding, they are currently supporting their staff of 20 based on the revenue they are generating.
Related But Not Required Reading:
OwnLocal nabs new funding from Automattic to resurrect newspaper revenues
Ownlocal scores funds to get small firms online
Interesting investment to say the least. I wonder if there are plans to bringing what they are doing over to WordPress.com at some point or at least power those systems on WordPress as well…