NewsStand racks up $2M more in funding

NewsStand, which produces digital versions of print publications, has raised more than $2 million from The New York Times, Noro Moseley and Adams Capital Management, according to regulatory documents.

The Austin, Texas-based company has been in operation since 1999 and raised $55.5 million, according to data from Thomson Reuters (publisher of PE Week).

Memphis, Tenn.-based venture firm SSM Partners, an early backer of NewsStand, does not appear to have participated in the latest round.

Neither NewsStand nor SSM Partners were immediately available for comment.

NewsStand and several other companies are vying for the opportunity to provide digital versions of magazines and newspapers to subscribers, touting ease of use, environmental sustainability and archival integrity as benefits of their service. NewsStand competes with companies such as Santa Clara, Calif.-based Olive Software, which has raised $15 million from Sequoia Capital and Pitango Ventures; San Francisco-based Zinio Systems, which raised $30 million from Apax Partners, Intel Capital, New Enterprise Associates, North Bridge Venture Partners and others before Gilvest bought it for an undisclosed amount in February 2007; and Southborough, Mass.-based Texterity, which raised $5.15 million from Massachusetts Technology Development Corp., The Venture Capital Fund of New England and Brook Venture Partners.

Magazine sales have had a tough time on non-digital newsstands, slumping 6.3% for the first half of the year, according to data from industry association, the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Overall subscriptions remained flat, data show.

Services such as NewsStand, Olive and Zinio are hoping to go from the PC to handheld devices. Zinio, for example, announced its service could deliver digital editions of magazines to iPhones last year. —Alexander Haislip