Madsack and WAZ-Subsidiary “TheMediaLab” Invests in MeinProspekt

The two media groups invest in a leading provider of digital business

TheMediaLab has taken another up-and-coming company on board with its investment in the digital advertising experts at MeinProspekt. TheMediaLab, together with initial investors Mountain Super Angel and High-Tech Gründerfonds, invested a seven-digit sum in MeinProspekt.

On the information portal meinprospekt.de, consumers can learn about the latest offers and deals of various brands and businesses. The classic daily newspaper clippings of many retail chains are bundled together and available here on the Internet as well as via the iPhone, iPad and Android app. MeinPropekt is also very attractive for retailers, as this information platform gives businesses the opportunity to distribute their offers locally and to specific target groups. With total downloads of the MeinProspekt app and updates reaching over 2.8 million, the app is now currently ranked among the Top 10 in the News category of the Apple download charts. Around 600 brochures and leaflets with more than 65,000 products are available weekly through MeinProspekt.

Especially important is the local approach: the MeinProspekt-app is a digital link between consumers and the local shops and range of products. Users can search very specifically for nearby deals which truly interest them, and can be informed, for example, via a Push Notification.

“MeinProspekt constitutes another building block following our spring-time announcement of our venture capital firm’s strategic focus on location-based online businesses. We were particularly convinced by MeinProspekt’s high mobile coverage and the professional and experienced management and founding team,” says Dirk Weipert, Managing Director of TheMediaLab, a joint venture of media groups Madsack and WAZ Media Group. The subject of local commerce plays a special role: “The WAZ media group, with Germany’s largest regional newspaper, ‘Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung’ (WAZ) represents expertise in the regional market. The group boasts a daily circulation rate of about 2.5 million copies of the WAZ, and a weekly circulation rate of over 5 million copies of 99 advertising papers just in the Nordrhein-Westfalen region alone.”

Erik Peper, Managing Director of the WAZ NewMedia GmbH & Co. KG and member of the Board of Directors for the online division of the WAZ Media Group, asserted: “We will promptly integrate MeinProspekt into DerWesten. Together with our platforms Westdeal.de and Deal38.de, our publishing portfolio is perfectly complemented by MeinProspekt – we serve the needs of our customers from one single source.”

Romy Schnelle, Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds adds: „Having TheMediaLab as new investor on board and the cooperation behind we are convinced that MeinProspekt will continue its growth trend.“ High-Tech Gründerfonds together with Mountain Super Angel provided the initial seed financing in 2010.

About MeinProspekt GmbH
MeinProspekt is a dynamically growing media company standing among market leaders in the world of online information portals for consumers. MeinProspekt brings together the advertisements and bargain leaflets of German retailers and publishes them on mobile devices and on the Internet, therefore providing a versatile digital and mobile information platform which is attractive for both consumers and suppliers.
On the Internet and with the free app for iPhone, Android and iPad, consumers can quickly, easily and systematically look for deals, products and retailers in the area, or simply browse their favorite catalogs when or where they want. MeinProspekt has opened an innovative and intelligent way for retailers to distribute their offers locally and to specific target groups, thus developing additional scope and new target groups. MeinProspekt offers a huge selection of deals and brochures. This is a great advantage for the consumer, who wants to compare as many offers and prices as possible in order to know where he can buy products at their cheapest.

About the TheMediaLab GmbH & Co. KG
TheMediaLab is a joint venture of the media groups Madsack and the WAZ Media Group based in Hamburg. The company was founded in 2007 with the aim of discovering new digital businesses and expanding the regional expertise of publishing houses through various investments in promising, young companies. Investment targets are new trends and business models in digital media.
For its investments (radio.de, rebuy.de, kununu.com, gogol media and more), TheMediaLab does not operate purely as a financial investor, but also as a strategic partner in all phases of development. Young businesses are supported and developed by sophisticated management skills, ‘know-how’ in the area of local commerce, and through the procurement of contacts to the publishing and corporate network.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests venture capital in promising technology companies that turn innovative concepts into viable businesses. Seed financing aims to help start-ups guide their innovation to the prototype or proof-of-concept stage or to market launch. High-Tech Gründerfonds provides seed financing of approximately €500,000.  It supports high-tech companies by way of its investment managers and its highly-qualified network of coaches, investors and specialists. In individual cases it can invest up to a total of €2 m per company. The investors in this public private partnership are the German Federal Ministry for Business and Technology, the KfW Banking Group as well as the six industrial groups of BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has an investment volume totalling approx. €272 m.

Contact
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Romy Schnelle
Investment Manager
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
53175 Bonn
Germany
Phone: +49 228 823001-00
Fax: +49 228 823000-50
info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de