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Media - Thursday, May 8, 2008

Mens' Portal Giant Realm Cloes $5.5M First Round With Softbank

Giant Realm has closed its Series A round with a $2M Investment from SoftBank Capital which brings its first round total to $5.5M. The NYC-based startup also raised funds from Comcast Interactive Capital, the William Morris Agency and Edison Venture Fund.

The company's sales pitch to advertisers is that they are reaching "empowered gamer geeks and entertainment junkies who are the trendsetters and influencers in gaming, movies, music, television."

Giant Realm saw 4.2M unique monthly visitors in March 2008, says comScore Media Metrix data. It's sites include GiantRealm.com site, plus a set of brother sites in the same genre. Expansion plans are to hire additional sales, editorial, and operations staff, as well as the building out of sales offices in LA and San Francisco.

While we are impressed with the traffic numbers we don't get the site or the brand. There are dozens if not hundreds of organic sites that cater to men with screen grabs of Grand Theft Auto and Scarlett Johansson bikini shots. There is no editorial voice or tech features that set GiantRealm apart. Further, our suspicion is that GiantRealm is goosing its traffic with media buys. The only thing that makes the business different is that it has attracted experienced management and they have clearly figured out how to pitch this to investors. "Glam Media for Men."

First stabs at GiantRealmTV

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