HuffPo Raises $25 Million for Local News, Investigative Journalism

We were impressed last month when it was rumored that the Huffington Post may have raised $15 million in new investment, a big accomplishment for a media company at a time when the media economy is in the trash. Well, those rumors turned out to be false. Actually, HuffPo has raised $25 million from a venture capital firm. Amazing. So what will they do with all this cash?

"The company said it would invest in its technology and infrastructure, increase its in-house advertising capabilities, and continue to expand its content offerings — including a new investigative journalism initiative and a rollout of local versions of The Huffington Post in select cities."

Arianna Huffington looks set to cement her position as the Queen of Capitol Hill in the next few days.

The Times has learnt that the Huffington Post, her influential political website, will confirm within the next week that it has completed a $15 million (£10 million) fundraising from investors.

The money will finance the expansion of HuffPo, as it is known, into the provision of local news across the United States and into more investigative journalism. And it will ensure that Ms Huffington's influence continues to spread across the US political scene.

She is a close friend of Barack Obama, the President-elect - who, with Hillary Clinton, has posted on her site - and, at a dinner in London on Wednesday night, joked: “I only text three people - my two teenage children and Barack Obama.”

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Ms Huffington launched HuffPo, which has about 2.5 million bloggers contributing to it regularly, in May 2005 with $2 million of seed capital. She then raised $5 million in August 2006 from venture capital firms including SoftBank Capital and Greycroft Partners, as well as individuals such as Bob Pittman, the former AOL executive. In a second round of fundraising in September 2007, HuffPo raised a further $5 million.