Jim Heckman's stealthy 5to1.com raises $4.5 million |
Follow the ups and downs of a new Seattle startup in a series of behind-the-scenes posts by its founders.
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Jim Heckman's stealthy 5to1.com raises $4.5 million
A few weeks ago, we told you about a stealthy Seattle startup called 5to1.com that had multiple connections to Fox Interactive Media. At the time, Chief Executive Jim Heckman -- the former CEO of Rivals.com and Scout.com -- didn't want to say much about what they were doing. Well, he's still not talking. But Heckman and crew continue to raise more cash.
5to1.com recently closed out its venture round at $4.5 million, confirms Heckman. Investors in the company -- which formed last summer and appears to be in the online advertising space-- include Prism Ventures, Fuse Capital, former Starwave CEO Mike Slade, former MTV and Sling Media executive Jason Hirschhorn, entertainment executive Casey Wasserman and others.
Slade is a particularly interesting investor, since he was among the investors who lost cash when Heckman's online sports network, Rivals.com, hit the wall during the dot com bust. Slade was among the first to invest when 5to1 started gelling last summer, Heckman said.
While Heckman is being particularly careful about what he shares, he did confirm that a number of former executives with ties to Fox Interactive Media are involved.
They include Levinsohn -- the former boss of Fox Interactive Media who now runs Fuse Capital. Others with ties to Fox include Mark Stieglitz; Michael Barrett; Dale Strang and others.
Seattle remains the technical hub of the operations, led by former SecondSpace executive Alok Sinha. However, the company also has people in LA, New York and San Francisco.
Heckman -- who is splitting his time between LA and Seattle -- declined to say how many people the company employs. But he did say a launch is slated for September.
"Everyone is being discreet," he said.
Levinsohn and Heckman worked closely together at Fox after the media powerhouse purchased Scout.com for $60 million in 2005.
About John Cook
John Cook is co-founder and executive editor of TechFlash. He has been covering the technology beat for nearly a decade, writing about startups, entrepreneurs and venture capital, most recently serving as a reporter/blogger at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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