By Madison Alworth
In an ever-changing media landscape, Blavity has found a niche. The LA-based lifestyle publication, which just closed a $6.5 million round of funding, is focused on the stories that aren't being told.
"Blavity has proven for the last four years that there's a demand for multicultural and diverse content and this sense of community and platform," said CEO Morgan DeBaun in an interview with Cheddar.
Earlier this month, after the murder of Nia Wilson, [Blavity] (https://blavity.com/search/?q=nia%20wilson) published dozens of stories about the attack and the ensuing reaction from the community. While other outlets may have abandoned this story during an already nonstop news cycle, Blavity kept up with the developments.
The company's commitment to diversity starts at its core. The site employs multicultural writers from various backgrounds who add a personal touch to their stories. It's this level of sincerity, perhaps, that distinguishes Blavity in an market over-saturated with content.
"We're thinking about how do we grow and scale in a way that other media companies haven't necessarily thought about," DeBaun explained.
The latest Series A funding was led by GV, the venture capital arm of Google parent Alphabet.
For DeBaun, Google was an ideal investor and adviser for this round. "It was definitely important for us to think of someone who could strategically help us grow and advise on a lot of the problems we had as a companyーfrom scaling our operation to hiring and recruiting engineers."
A partnership, then, made both financial and strategic sense, DeBaun added.
Comcast Venturesーan investor in CheddarーPlexo Capital, and Baron Davis Enterprises also participated in the round. The money will go towards building out Blavity's engineering and design teams and its planned expansion to Atlanta, GA.
Prior to this financing, Blavity raised $1.8 million in seed funding.
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