SheKnows Media Receives $22 Million Credit Facility from Ally Corporate Finance
Funding Will Go Toward Enhancing and Scaling Momentum, the Company’s
Proprietary Technology Platform; Bolstering its Branded Content and
Influencer Marketing Offering
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SheKnows
Media, a leading women’s media company with 92.5 million unique
visitors per month* and a total reach of 256 million social media fans,
today announced that it has closed an expanded credit facility of $22
million through Ally Corporate Finance in fourth quarter 2015.
“In December 2015, we achieved our peak audience reach of 92.5 million
and we rank first within comScore’s Lifestyles category in Female
Audience – a position we’ve held firmly for the 13th
consecutive month,” said Philippe Guelton, Chief Executive Officer,
SheKnows Media. “This last year has been marked by incredible growth
for the company. In particular, we have successfully completed the
integration of BlogHer, which we acquired in November 2014. In a world
where women dominate wallet share and make the lion’s share of
purchasing decisions, Ally recognizes the long-term potential of this
unrelenting and consistent growth. I could not be more pleased to have
them on board as our preferred financing source.”
SheKnows Media initiated fundraising effort to enhance and scale its Momentum
technology platform. Momentum is SheKnows Media’s proprietary content
and community engine, where brands and the Company’s 21,000-member
influencer community converge. The platform allows influencers to
develop and distribute authentic content at scale, while guaranteeing
user engagement for each campaign. Brands who leverage Momentum can
track all activity in a real-time interface verified by third-party
performance data.
In addition to Momentum, SheKnows Media will leverage the capital
received from Ally to deepen its value proposition to advertisers by
offering an even more robust end-to-end suite of premium branded content
and influencer marketing solutions.
Franklin Vincent, SheKnows Media’s Chief Financial Officer,
added, “We are excited to work with the media and technology finance
team at Ally, as they understand the Company’s capital needs in our
stage of growth. They have provided us with a creative and flexible
credit facility that will give us access to working capital as we
execute our expansion and product development plans in 2016 and beyond.”
Financial terms of the deal between Ally and SheKnows Media were not
disclosed.
“We are very pleased to provide financing to a top women’s lifestyle
site such as SheKnows Media as it continues to grow its audience in the
digital media segment,” said Richard Suhl, Group Head of Ally
Technology Finance. “This transaction demonstrates Ally’s
commitment to expanding its presence in the media and technology
sectors. We have a dedicated team with expertise in servicing digital
and technology-based businesses, and this expertise was a key factor in
securing this relationship with the team at SheKnows Media.”
Guggenheim acted as exclusive financial advisor to SheKnows Media in the
financing.
To learn more about Momentum, click here.
Visit corporate.sheknows.com
or email Marketing@SheKnows.com
for information about SheKnows Media.
* comScore, Media Metrix, Multiplatform Key Measures Report,
December 2015, U.S.
About SheKnows Media
SheKnows
Media is the number-one women’s lifestyle digital media company with
92.5 million unique visitors per month (comScore, Media Metrix,
Multiplatform Key Measures Report, December 2015, U.S.) and 256 million
social media fans and followers. The company operates a family of
leading media properties that include SheKnows.com,
BlogHer.com
and StyleCaster.com.
SheKnows Media also organizes the conference #BlogHer16:
Experts Among Us, the largest annual celebration of women online
content creators, social media influencers and brand executives, taking
place in Los Angeles, August 4-6, 2016. With a mission of women
inspiring women, SheKnows Media is revolutionizing the publishing
industry by forging a new kind of model that seamlessly integrates
users, editors and content creators onto a single platform designed to
empower all women to discover, share and create. Whether it’s parenting
or pop culture, fashion or food, DIY or décor, our award-winning
editorial team, Experts, bloggers and social media influencers produce
authentic and on-trend content every day. We dig deep to learn what
makes our audience tick, revealing unexpected insights on women and
digital media. Our robust, end-to-end suite of premium branded content
and influencer marketing solutions generate more than 2 billion ad
impressions per month (sources: DFP), allowing brands to distribute
authentic content and integrated advertising at scale.
SheKnows Media is based in New York and Scottsdale, Ariz., with offices
in Los Angeles, Chicago and Redwood City, Calif. We also operate
internationally in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
About Ally Corporate Finance
Ally Corporate Finance, a unit of Ally Bank, provides senior secured
commercial-lending products to primarily U.S.-based middle market
companies. Ally Corporate Finance lends to manufacturers, distributors,
service companies and specialty sectors such as healthcare, media,
technology, retail, and automotive. Loans generally range from $10 to
$250 million and include enterprise value-based cash flow loans and
asset-based loans to support refinancing, growth, acquisition and/or
recapitalization. Learn more at www.allycf.com.
Contacts
SheKnows Media
Jenni Ottum, 480-231-4887
Jennifer.Ottum@SheKnows.com
