Ebyline operates an open marketplace for freelance journalists to pitch story ideas, take assignments, and for publishers to find talent and syndicate content. The platform automates freelancer administration including assignment and pitch flow, independent contractor agreements, payment processing, and tax management. Publishers use Ebyline to syndicate content—Variety uses it to syndicate movie reviews—and partners include the LA Times, Gatehouse Media, Internet Broadcasting, Grammy.com, and E.W. Scripps. In May the company added video and audio capabilities to support multimedia broadcast. Ebyline crossed the $1 million revenue mark in August, with revenue largely derived from the small percentage the startup takes from syndication deals. The company has powered over 75,000 projects to date. Ebyline is a Los Angeles, CA-based marketplace that connects news publishers with professional freelance journalists. Created by media executives Bill Momary and Allen Narcisse and publicly launched in September 2010, the platform aims to create an alternative economic model dedicated to preserving high-quality reporting. Its platform is already used by outlets including Variety, ProPublica, Cars.com, MinnPost.com and The Texas Observer, and its journalist members include credentialed freelancers from The Journalism Shop and The Sports Media Exchange. Financially, the company had previously raised an initial round from Los Angeles-based angel investors and has now closed a $1.5M Series A. The Series A was led by The E.W. Scripps Company. Ebyline intends to leverage its marketplace and publisher relationships to support sustainable models for in-depth reporting.

Total raised

$7M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Oct 2011