Streetwise and BostInno Bought by American City Business Journals

Some big news in online journalism and local startups today. Streetwise Media, the Boston-based parent company of BostInno and InTheCapital, has been acquired by American City Business Journals, the publisher of weekly print business journals in 40 cities and 45 business-news websites. The deal price wasn’t announced.

American City Business Journals, based in North Carolina, is a division of Advance Publications. The acquisition seems to make sense, as ACBJ seems to be looking to expand its offerings in the digital news realm, as well as reach a younger, hipper demographic.

BostInno started in 2008-09 as a blog and news platform focused on local innovation. The site’s news coverage has grown quickly to encompass local business, technology, politics, culture, and lifestyles, and it harnesses user-generated content and community posts (as well as old-fashioned reporting) to stay ahead of the firehose of news and events.

Its founders, Chase Garbarino and Kevin McCarthy, are staying on with Streetwise as CEO and CTO, respectively. And the company will stay headquartered in Boston.

In June 2011, Streetwise raised $1.3 million in seed funding from TL Ventures and angel investors. “While acquisitions are usually viewed as endings, we believe this is just the beginning for Streetwise,” Garbarino wrote in a blog post today. “We are actively looking for more great people that believe great content and great community is the future of local media online.”

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.