IZEA: Sponsored Social Media and so much more... : Venture Capital Blog : VC Blog : Venture Blog : Florida Venture Blog by Dan Rua

Seeing your babies grow up is bittersweet. Watching my daughters scare others at our haunted house this Halloween, instead of being scared, was both fun and sad.

I feel that same conflict with PayPerPost's evolution to IZEA, being formally announced tomorrow. PPP has gone from being an unknown upstart in the summer of 2006, to the largest sponsored social media marketplace on the planet with over 80,000 bloggers and over 11,000 advertisers. Ted and his team have launched multiple innovations beyond PPP such as Blogger's Choice Awards and have acquired others such as Zookoda.

They disrupted the status quo with PPP and their next innovation (code named Argus) will have an even larger and lasting impact for social media publishers and advertisers. As such, the master brand of IZEA makes a ton of sense as the umbrella for multiple synergistic innovations. That doesn't mean the change doesn't prompt a bit of sadness for me. I think I'll be OK.

Hello IZEA and viva la revolucion!

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PayPerPost, Inc. Changes Corporate Name To IZEA™

To Support Expanding Suite of Social Media Marketing Solutions

Original Consumer Generated Advertising Network PayPerPost.com

To Continue as Part of Broader Portfolio

ORLANDO, FL – (November 1, 2007) – Social media marketing pioneer PayPerPost, Inc. today announced it is changing its corporate name to organize the multiple properties its has developed within the fast-changing world of social media. Effective immediately, the company will operate under the parent name of IZEA™ Inc., incorporating consumer generated advertising network PayPerPost.com and other Web sites currently operating under the PayPerPost, Inc. umbrella.

Founded in June 2006, IZEA has raised over $10 million in venture capital from top venture firms including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Village Ventures and Inflexion Partners. The company initially launched flagship service PayPerPost.com and has since developed a diverse portfolio of online properties that enable content creators and advertisers to mutually benefit from social media.

In addition to PayPerPost.com, IZEA owns and operates Zookoda.com, BloggersChoiceAwards.com, RockStartup.com, RSSBrief.com, URLBrief.com and BlogInSpace.com, among others.

The name change comes just days before the scheduled unveiling of IZEA's highly anticipated new service, codenamed Argus. An alpha version of the offering will be revealed on Nov. 10 at PostieCon, the company’s annual user conference. It will provide both bloggers and advertisers more visibility into social media and allow them to interact with each other and the public in more immediate, transparent and accountable ways. Access to the alpha version will be by invitation only through the end of 2007.

“Argus is the kind of breakthrough marketers and bloggers have both been asking for. It will have broader appeal and set new standards for scalability in social media marketing,” said Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA Inc. “The combination of advanced reporting, open APIs, blog analytics, management tools and social networking features will be extremely attractive to marketers that want to actively engage in online conversations.”

The company is building on past success and looks to expand its core business value with the launch of Argus. “Our marketplace now includes more than 80,000 bloggers and 11,000 advertisers, making it the world’s largest consumer generated ad network,” said Murphy. “We believe Argus can leverage this growth to expand even further, and allow us to address our broader mission: to empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence.”

The PayPerPost.com sponsored content marketplace will continue operating as it does today. Over the coming months, IZEA will continue to improve the user experience through tighter integration between offerings. By the end of Q1 2008, users will be able to utilize a single sign-on for all IZEA properties. Profiles and data will be shared across IZEA sites, making it easier and faster for users to navigate across platforms.

“I am extremely excited about the future of our company,” said Murphy. “Our new approach will provide more value, innovation and support for our ever-expanding user community.”

About IZEA:

IZEA is a next-generation, Web-based social media marketing company. Comprised of properties including PayPerPost, Zookoda, Bloggers Choice Awards and RockStartup, IZEA aims to empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence. IZEA’s current flagship product is PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for Consumer Generated Advertising that connects advertisers and consumer content creators to deliver compelling marketing messages. IZEA is venture funded by Inflexion Partners, Village Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and DFJ Gotham. Advertisers, consumer content creators and partners are encouraged to join the social media revolution at www.izea.com.

Labels: bloggers choice awards, izea, payperpost, zookoda

Florida Venture Blog by Dan Rua

IZEA: Sponsored Social Media and so much more...

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