New Investment for Peacock Fund

NEW YORK: Peacock Equity, the investment fund operated by NBC Universal and GE Capital’s Media, Communications & Entertainment business, has participated, along with two other investors, in a $7 million financing round for the women’s online destination BlogHer.

Founded in 2005, BlogHer now reaches more than 14 million unique monthly visitors. It aims to create opportunities for women who blog via a community hub, annual conferences and a publishing network of more than 2,500 blog affiliates. In addition to Peacock Equity, investments have been made in BlogHer by Venrock and Azure Capital Partners. The new capital will be used to improve tools in BlogHer’s community and to make further investments in research and advertising technology.

The is Peacock Equity’s second investment in BlogHer, which last summer became a strategic partner with iVillage, which gave the NBCU unit access to BlogHer’s network of 2,500 blogs, along with promotional opportunities across its female audience.

“The iVillage/BlogHer relationship has been completely synergistic,” said Lauren Zalaznick, the president of NBC Universal’s Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks. “Women are coming to online social communities in record numbers. Together, our 23 million unique users’ powerful combined reach drives traffic across both our properties and has created additional opportunities for advertisers to connect with our highly engaged female audience.”

“Despite the uncertain economic climate, we are actively investing in great companies like BlogHer that make good strategic sense for NBCU and also represent tremendous growth platforms for GE Capital’s Media, Communications & Entertainment business," said Tom Byrne, the managing director and group head of Peacock Equity Fund.

Current and previous Peacock Equity investments include Adify, EveryZing, Bigpoint, Healthline, 4INFO, Trion World Network and Loomia.