FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bob Richter
bob@richtermedia.com
212.802.8588
Internet Brain Trust Launches Outside.In
New Online Information Service Offers Up Insider’s Look at Neighborhoods and Communities
NEW YORK, NY (February 27th, 2007) – Outside.in (www.outsidein.com) a web service for sharing and exploring information about neighborhoods, today announced its launch in 63 cities, and 3217 neighborhoods in the U.S.. Organized around Stories, Neighbors, and Places, the site aggregates information from the blogosphere, traditional media, and individual users, resulting in the most comprehensive look at real-world communities on the Web.
The company also announced its first significant round of financing; its backers now include Union Square Ventures, alongside Internet luminaries Marc Andreessen, John Seely Brown, and Esther Dyson.
Beyond ‘where to go’ ‘where to eat’ and ‘what to do’, the site’s new Neighbors and Places features enable users to meet their real-world neighbors online and share their expertise on community issues — everything from school board meetings to local crime to real estate rumors to political campaigns.
Outside.in is the brainchild of Web pioneer and bestselling author Steven Berlin Johnson, co-creator of two influential web sites in the 1990s: the online magazine FEED and the Webby-Award-winning community site, Plastic.com, and acclaimed social media architect John Geraci, whose previous work includes Neighbornode, Pheeder and Foundcity.
“We wanted to create a destination that would amplify the true voices of neighborhood and communities, and what better way to do this but to draw upon the expertise of the people who live in those places?” said Johnson. “With such a stellar group of investors now behind us, we think Outside.in can become one of the premiere Web resources for local information.”
“We have learned that the best web services are two way systems,” said Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. “They take content in, add something to it, and then send it back out. YouTube works this way. So do Delicious and Flickr. To date, we haven’t seen such a service for local information online. Outside.in will hopefully fill that void and we are excited to be involved.”
Additional financing in this round comes from Milestone Venture Partners, Village Ventures, and angel investors George Crowley, John Borthwick, and Richard Smith. Outside.in is currently focused on the U.S., but will be rolling out international neighborhoods in the coming year.
