Skyword Scores $6M to Blend Media and Marketing

Boston-based Skyword is moving up in the world. The startup, which makes a software platform for brands to create Web content, said today it has closed $6 million in financing from Cox Media Group.

The company says it helps publishers—which is marketing-speak for retail and industry brands, as well as media companies—create online content “for a search and social driven world.” In other words, Skyword farms out marketing content to writers with experience in everything from medicine to investing to parenting, and tries to make the content discoverable by consumers via search engines and social networks. (Depending on whom you talk to, this is either one of the savviest or most annoying ideas ever. Or possibly both, if you view marketing as a necessary evil.)

Skyword is led by founder and CEO Tom Gerace. The company started up about a year ago, out of the news and social-networking site Gather (which still exists). Skyword’s customers include Procter & Gamble, Everyday Health, and ImpreMedia.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.