Source: VentureBeat
Above: Jessica Rovello, CEO of Arkadium
Arkadium, which creates visual and interactive content for more than 500 online news publishers, today announced it has bought out its early-stage investor, Edison Ventures. The price of the deal wasn’t disclosed.
New York-based Arkadium received a $5 million first round investment from Edison Ventures in 2013. Arkadium has grown considerably since that time, building interactive content tools for the world’s top publishers.
“At Arkadium, we’re committed to building an evergreen business. To do that, technology companies need to get away from the de facto VC growth model,” said Jessica Rovello, CEO and cofounder of Arkadium, in a statement. “Operating independently enables you to have a longer-term view, greater control around strategies, and more operating flexibility. We want to be an example for purpose-driven companies that value long term impact over ‘growth at all costs’ mindsets.”
Rovello and her husband Kenny Rosenblatt started Arkadium in 2001. They made casual games at first and then operated casual games to increase retention and other online activity for news sites. And now it has shifted entirely toward creating interactive content for news publishers like Gannett (USA Today), Tronc (Chicago Tribune), and CNN.
“We’re showing the technology industry a new way forward,” said Rosenblatt, president and cofounder of Arkadium, in a statement. “We’ve built a profitable, resilient business that’s poised for decades of consistent growth year to year — and we’ve done it on our own terms.”
Arkadium’s suite of publisher solutions improves on-site audience attention, engagement and retention, increases reader loyalty, and drives new revenue.
Arkadium went through a tough time in 2014, when the casual game company had to slash the size of its studio in Ukraine and move the rest of them to Russia. Russia occupied Crimea, where the studio was, and took part in the Ukraine civil war. As the Obama administration put sanctions on companies in Crimea, Arkadium had to get out, and its studio went from 100 people to 50. During that time, Rosenblatt shifted from CEO to president and Rovello took over as CEO of Arkadium.
