Ken Lerer

Two Years and $33 Million Later, Start-Up Investor Lerer Ventures Starts Building Its Own Companies

Peter Kafka in Media on April 5 at 7:02 am PT

Like lots of other investors, Ken Lerer, Ben Lerer and Eric Hippeau are plowing money into start-ups. Unlike some of the other guys, they’re making some of them themselves.

HuffPo Co-Founder Ken Lerer’s Stealthy Start-Up Aims at CNN, Fox

Peter Kafka in Media on March 27 at 6:48 am PT

Ken Lerer helped build an Internet news powerhouse out of thin air. Now he wants to do it again — this time using video.

BuzzFeed Bulks Up Again, With a Tech Section Run by Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan

Peter Kafka in Media on January 30 at 4:18 pm PT

Another well-known writer for a site that used to specialize in other people’s writing. This one says he’ll write about “tech for humans.”

Huffington Post Tech Boss Leaves AOL, For Real

Peter Kafka in Media on January 10 at 3:42 pm PT

Like almost every other top Huffpo executive from the pre-AOL days, Paul Berry is on to something else — which happens to involve working with a lot of former Huffpo executives.

News Byte

Buzzfeed Raises $15 Million to Make More Buzzy Content

Peter Kafka in Media on January 9 at 8:37 am PT

News aggregator/newsmaker Buzzfeed has raised a $15.5 million C round led by New Enterprise Associates. The New York-based site, run by Huffington Post co-founder Jonah Peretti, also features HuffPo co-founder Ken Lerer as investor and chairman, and former HuffPo sales boss Greg Coleman has joined as a board advisor. The site recently signaled its intent to generate more of its own content, designed to be flung around users’ social networks, by hiring Politico blogger Ben Smith to beef up its editorial ranks.

YouTube and Hollywood Finally Link Up: Here Come the Channels

Peter Kafka in Media on October 28, 2011 at 6:00 pm PT

Google announces deals with “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara and a bunch of other famous people to make stuff for the site. Next up: Signing on advertisers.

News Byte

Business Insider Pulls in a Fresh $7 Million

John Murrell in News on September 22, 2011 at 8:22 am PT

The newsgatherers at Business Insider are feeling flush today, closing a $7 million funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners and enjoying the continued support of RRE Ventures, Allen & Co., Marc Andreessen, Gordon Crovitz, Ken Lerer and other existing investors.

Huffington Post Co-Founder Ken Lerer Wants You to Watch His Next Company

Peter Kafka in Media on March 28, 2011 at 5:30 am PT

What do you do once you sell your digital media business for $315 million? Start another digital media business! Ken Lerer, Brian Bedol, Patrick Keane and Jim Pallotta bet on video with Bedrock Properties.

Arianna Huffington on Her New AOL Job: "I Want to Stay Here Forever"

Peter Kafka in Media on February 7, 2011 at 5:55 am PT

“I want this to be the last act of my life,” says AOL’s new content boss. CEO Tim Armstrong’s translation: It’s a “multiyear contract”

Betaworks Gets Another $20 Million for Twitter-Friendly Start-Ups. Building a Mountain or Digging a Hole?

Peter Kafka in Media on March 12, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

Do you like Twitter’s chances? Then you’ll like Betaworks, a holding company that builds and invests in the Twitter ecosystem. CEO John Borthwick explains what it plans to do with the $20 million it just raised from the likes of Intel, the New York Times and AOL.