ThePort CEO Robert Cramer

ATLANTA – ThePort Network, which sells social media solutions to nonprofit organizations, has raised $2.8 million of an equity financing targeted at $4 million, according to a regulatory filing.

The company previously raised at least $4.6 million from investors who include Charlotte, NC-based American City Business Journals, Lee Enterprises, the country’s fourth largest newspaper chain; Atlanta-based venture capital firm Imlay Investments; angel investor Robert Jetmundsen; and Bob Cramer, ThePort CEO and co-founder.

The companys Software-as-a-Service solution lets customers create, operate and monetize socially enabled online communities. It adds social media and social networking capabilities similar to those of My Space and Facebook, to existing sites.

Its content aggregation and other tools allow consumers to customize their news delivery and participate in related discussions.

Media companies, nonprofits and professional associations are among the targets for ThePort’s services.

Customers include CARE, Arthritis Foundation, Lee Enterprises and Sierra Club. Its customers are not all issue-oriented or philanthropy organizations. Other customers have included The Restaurant Facility Management Association and The American College of Healthcare Executives.

We talked with CEO Cramer back in 2009.

A serial entrepreneur, he’s been in the Atlanta tech scene for two decades and his first company, Adam Inc., is now traded on Nasdaq. “Atlanta is a great place to build a business,” Cramer said then. “There are a lot of very smart people here, the cost of living is right, you can get space and it’s a nice place to raise a family.”

Cramer believes social media will move from a mass medium in which everyone is on Facebook to more niche communities. “Facebook is good for connecting with old friends, but if you get into serious topics like health, causes, or faith-based, you want to be in a community with other people sharing the same values. That bodes well for ThePort,” he told us.

For Cramer’s advice to entrepreneurs and more details see: The Port ships in $500K.

The company disclosed the most recent raise in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

By Allan Maurer

Southeast Venture Conference, February 29 – March 1, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA – Where Smart Money Meets Smart People.
www.seventure.org

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