New York, March 6, 2012: Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF), the
leading impact investment fund for independent news businesses in the
developing world, today launched an early-stage fund for digital news
and information businesses, Digital News Ventures.
Digital News Ventures will provide early-stage equity finance from
$30,000 to $300,000 to entrepreneurs whose ideas can be used to
provide news and information that is important to open societies or
can help develop financially sustainable news businesses. Its goal is
to foster innovative projects that will help change the way the world
interacts with information. Digital News Ventures is a global fund
with a primary focus on projects located in, or with particular
application to, emerging and frontier markets.
“Digital News Ventures invests in the future of news,” said Syed
Karim, MDLF Director of Innovation and Digital Strategies. “By
financing visionary media ideas, particularly in emerging and frontier
markets, we will help foster innovation in news and information, and
help create the platforms, tools and services that news businesses
need to be viable in the digital age.”
Digital News Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New
York-based Media Development Loan Fund, which has invested more than
$113 million in 79 independent news companies in 27 countries since
1995. It backs up all of its debt and equity investments with
strategic advice and business assistance.
“We have been active in the digital media space for 15 years and have
financedsome of the most respected and successful on-line news sites
in the developing world, including Malaysiakini.com and South Africa’s
M&G On-line,” said MDLF CEO Harlan Mandel. “Digital News Ventures is
the next evolution of our strategy to foster innovation in news and
information. It extends the scope of our investments beyond news
businesses to projects that can change the way people interact with
information.”
Digital News Ventures will invest in:
Innovative business models for producing credible news and information.
Platforms that generate and disseminate data and information
constructed by the public.
Tools that help the editorial and content-creation process.
Services that help make sense of the onslaught of online information,
including reporting on the social web.
Products that contribute to the viability of news operations.
Viable, independent digital news outlets, especially in frontier markets.
Projects seeking financing should visit digitalnewsventures.org.
About MDLF
From 1996 to December 31, 2011, MDLF provided $113.3 million in
affordable financing, including:
$99 million in loans and equity investments;
$13.8 million in technical assistance and other grants;
Earned over $36.4 million in interest, dividends and capital gains;
Collected more than $50.8 million in recovered principal invested;
Over $0.5 million through Digital Kiosk, the secure payment service
for independent media.
It has financed 258 projects for 79 independent media companies in 27
countries and written off less than 3% of the total loaned and
invested.
MDLF has returned more than $16 million to investors. It ended 2011
with a portfolio of $44 million in outstanding loans and investments.