Waterfront Media Closes $25 Million in Series D Financing

Waterfront Media, the largest privately held online health company, announced recently that it has closed $25 million in its fourth round of funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round and was joined by new investor, Foundation Capital. Existing investors, including Rho Ventures, Time Warner Ventures, BEV Capital, and Neocarta Ventures, also participated in the round. Waterfront Media also announced that Sharon Wienbar, a Managing Director with ScaleVP, joined the board.

Waterfront Media will use the financing to grow the Everyday Health Network, increase the size of its advertising business and make acquisitions in its ongoing effort to become the number one health destination on the web. This round of financing comes on the heels of the Everyday Health Network recording 9 million unique visitors per month according to July 2007 Media Metrix/Comscore. The Network is also the second leading health property on the web following WebMD and the fourth most trafficked women’s destination.

Waterfront Media has attracted a variety of major consumer advertisers, such as Pfizer and Procter & Gamble, who are drawn to Everyday Health’s lifestyle, health and condition-specific audience. The Company has also successfully integrated its highly popular diet subscriptions sites (e.g., Southbeachdiet.com, DeniseAustin.com, and 5-factor Diet) into the Network with Everydayhealth.com and WhattoExpect.com, which complements the bestselling book franchise, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, by Heidi Murkoff. This has allowed the Company to leverage subscription traffic and drive organic unique visitor growth, becoming a must-buy property for advertisers, such as pharmaceutical companies, seeking both reach and targeted access to consumers.

We’re thrilled to welcome Scale Ventures as a new partner, said Ben Wolin, Waterfront Media’s CEO and co-founder. This new round of funding will allow us to continue our fast-paced expansion of the Everyday Health Network. We’re confident that we have the resources and assets to become the leading health property online.

We are attracted to Waterfront Media’s market for advertising in the healthcare vertical because it combines great targeting with tremendous reach, said Sharon Wienbar, ScaleVP. We particularly like Waterfront Media’s strategy of combining subscription and ad-supported sites, as we believe it delivers better long-term value. The Everyday Health Network is a great example. We truly respect how management at Waterfront Media has grown Everyday Health in such a short period of time and look forward to fueling its continued expansion.

JPMorgan acted as exclusive placement agent for the transaction.

The Everyday Health Network is published by Waterfront Media, the premier online publisher of self help experts and the largest privately held online health company. One of the largest and the most rapidly growing online health properties, the Everyday Health Network receives over nine million unique users per month; it is also the fourth largest destination for women on the Web. Through its network of sites, including the flagship EverydayHealth.com, Waterfront Media enables consumers to manage their health online and make positive life changes through unique interactive features and personalized advice, tools, and online communities.

For more information, please visit www.waterfrontmedia.com