Web content platform NewsCred to expand in Europe with £15m investment from Interwest Partners
Content marketing platform NewsCred is investing £15m in its new European division, following the recent opening of its London office. The investment has come from Silicon Valley technology investors InterWest Partners.
NewsCred’s business comes from marketers licensing web content to reach different audiences on a country by country basis. The European business will be led by international managing director Kayvan Salmanpour.
Pepsi is using NewsCred for licensed and branded content across localised versions of Pepsi.com. The site is tailored to 200 hyperlocal markets across the world, allowing Pepsi to reach local audiences while maintaining a global brand identity.
Procter & Gamble is also working with NewsCred, with brands such as Oral B offering realtime local news. A German version features local language publishers including Reuters and DPA.
NewsCred expects to create six new roles this year based out of its London office, including a head of UK marketing and a head of agency sales.
NewsCred licences content from over 4,500 publishers including the BBC, The Economist and The Guardian. Last year the company claimed to have returned over $4m to publishers from licensing deals.
The company also recently launched The NewsRoom, a freelance network that produces brand-specific content. This includes journalism, photography (including Getty Images), video and infographics.
NewsCred CEO and founder Shafqat Islam (left) says: “Consumers expect hyper-relevant content, 24/7, wherever they are. Marketers need to meet that relentless demand by creating engaging content with simplicity, speed and scale.”
InterWest Partners’ general partner Doug Pepper says: “The publishing industry in the UK and Europe has been under pressure, but NewsCred has created a new way to drive new revenue to this sector. By any metric – number of customers, revenue and share of voice – NewsCred is the definitive leader in an important new marketing category, driven by product innovation and thought leadership.”