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It's a WeVolt
WOWIO CLOSES FINANCING ROUND, ACQUIRES ONLINE COMMUNITY WEVOLTPrivate Financing Round of Nearly $2MM Leads to First Acquisition, Adding Technology, an Online Community, Social Networking Tools and Top-tier Talent to WOWIO Family
LOS ANGELES, June 3, 2010 - WOWIO, an online destination and established market leader that provides access to rich, digital media content and eBooks, announced today the successful close of $1.7MM in private financing and the subsequent acquisition of WEvolt (www.wevolt.com), an innovative social networking platform designed to bring creators and fans closer than ever before.
WOWIO’s CEO Brian Altounian led the financing round which follows a seed round of $1MM completed in October of last year. “These rounds of financing have given WOWIO the ability to pay off legacy obligations and set the stage for acquisitions, enhancements and new developments to position the company to be a true market leader,” said Altounian. “In addition to technology, an online community and social networking tools, we have added amazing creative talent which will provide WOWIO with studio capabilities to create original content for broad media exploitation.”
WEvolt‘s unique tool set allows artists to create and share their work with an active and engaged global fan base, while an advanced “Professional” set of tools will also provide for a monetization path. WEvolt’s online platform will allow creators to generate revenues by participating in ad sales and other activities, such as merchandising. Users can create and submit their original material for broader distribution consideration, or they can simply use the site as an aggregator of their favorite online content.
"We built a website for people like me," said Jason Badower, WEvolt's co-creator and creative director, who has earned one of the hottest names in television tie-in comics with the original True Blood (HBO) and Heroes (NBC) graphic novels. "There are so many creative people who need a website for their work but they are either intimidated by the technology, can't afford it or don't have the time to figure it out. WEvolt solves all of those issues. The word 'vault' can mean to both launch and store something, but we ‘vault’ with more energy, so WE 'volt' instead."
Creators can utilize an array of tools to build their properties and their fanbase on WEvolt without having to move into the traditional and more costly world of print. “This perspective makes it a perfect fit for WOWIO, which has been at the forefront of delivering innovative content in the form of eBooks to our audience,” said Altounian. "We're going to see unprecedented levels of audience retention as WEvolt brings a social network component that provides a new level of interaction between creators, WOWIO and the fan community."
WEvolt's other co-creator is Matt Jacobs, who developed WEvolt’s revolutionary PanelFlow technology as an answer to his frustrations with existing services, "All these content sites forget that the fans are just as important as the creators," said Jacobs. "So each WEvolt user gets a browser homepage to store all the cool pages they find and can schedule reminders to go back for updates. I used to have twenty tabs open on my browser. Now I just open WEvolt."
With over thirty years of experience in comic book publishing between them, Jacobs and Badower are also heading up the WEvolt Studio, allowing WOWIO to explore branded entertainment opportunities, franchise licenses and original content of the highest quality. It will also provide a development platform for new artists and writers to work and learn from experienced industry veterans on high profile projects.
The acquisition of WEvolt strengthens WOWIO's relationship with the comic book medium and also broadens WOWIO's expansion to other media. "WOWIO understood the enormous potential of WEvolt," says Matt Jacobs. "While it starts with comics, WEvolt will work for any media, art or artist. Now that we're under the WOWIO umbrella, the sky really is no longer the limit."
About WOWIO
WOWIO is an online destination that provides users with the opportunity to share and consume digital media content, such as eComics and eBooks, while providing revenue generating opportunities for creators and publishers through advertising and merchandising programs."
About WEvolt
WEvolt is an innovative online technology and social community that allows artists working in any medium to upload, promote and monetize their original content. WEvolt also functions as a browser homepage in which anyone can store, share, schedule and organize their online entertainment.