14 January 2009

Hubdub Raises $1.2m Series A Funding

Prediction markets will create a new way of engaging with the news

Pentech Ventures, the UK's leading software VC company, today announces it has invested in prediction markets specialist Hubdub. Hubdub allows users to predict the outcome of news events by staking virtual cash on the results. Over the past few weeks Hubdub users have correctly predicted the outcome of the US presidential elections, the appointment of Hillary Clinton as US Secretary of State, as well as the outcome of the X-factor competition.

In these difficult times, raising series A funding is a feat in itself. But Hubdub has also successfully brought on board some big hitters in the European web scene. Led by Pentech Ventures and Scottish Enterprise's Scottish Co-Investment Fund, the funding is further backed by a group of angel investors - including Rikki Tahta, CEO of Covestor.com, Simon Murdoch, CEO of friendsabroad.com, and Tim Jackson, founder of QXL.com.

Since launching earlier this year in the US, Edinburgh-based Hubdub has garnered a substantial and loyal following. With a quarter of million unique visitors trading around 100,000 predictions per month, Hubdub has altered the way news is being discovered and interacted with. Some users are spending several hours a day on the site, with many of them confessing to a definite Hubdub "addiction" on the site's forum.

Currently partnered with Reuters, The Independent and Huffington Post, Hubdub will now focus on growing its partnership base and developing functionality to allow partners to carry Hubdub prediction markets on their site. With each user generating hundreds of page impressions per month Hubdub technology is delivering social media type engagement to regular news content.

Marc Moens from Pentech says, "The news industry is currently seeing a structural change to their business. While off-line ad revenues are slumping, news media companies are aiming to build web businesses with significant user engagement. We see Hubdub as a key enabler for media companies to build that engagement around their content." Marc Moens will be joining Hubdub's board.

Andrew Sloane, Senior Investment Manager at Scottish Enterprise Investments, added: "This is an exciting investment for Scottish Enterprise, as it represents our first venture in prediction markets technology. This sector is still in its early stages, however we see considerable scope for expansion and development, and are confident that Hubdub has the capability to capitalise on these opportunities. We are delighted to be able to support such an innovative Scottish company alongside our partner Pentech Ventures."