PopSugar Raises $5m

Via TechCrunch, PopSugar has closed on a $5m round lead by Sequoia Investments.

From TechCrunch:

"Blog network Sugar Publishing (the most popular blog in the network is PopSugar) has raised “around $5 million” in a Series A round investment from Sequoia Capital. Michael Moritz will join the Team Sugar board of directors. No word on the valuation, although I suspect it’s in the $12-15 million range pre-money. Like all good rumors, the source of this one is a venture capitalist who tried but failed to get in on the deal. The company would not comment on this either way.

The Sugar Publishing network, which includes a number of blogs and other sites catering to “young, hip women” has only been around since the Fall of 2005, but boasts a rumored 3 million unique visitors and 20+ million page views per month (up from 13 million monthly page views and 1.5 million unique visitors just a couple of months ago). See our initial review of the network from August 2006 for more."

GigaOM:

"The focus of PopSugar is a demographic that is attractive to consumer advertisers - women. Sugar Publishing is not the only start-up going after the same demographic. Accel Partners has funded Glam. Most of these new companies will be going up against already established brands owned by CondeNast and Time Warner. The old media titans are being proactive in protecting their turn, and turning their consumer/women brands into Internet brands."