Investment Company Targets Entrepreneurs

B. Media Invest AB - BMI - is a Bonnier subsidiary founded in 2009 to fill a gap in the company. "While Bonnier has worked with Swedish media investment management company Aggregate to identify companies of interest that are not competitors, there was a need to look at smaller companies within media to invest in," says Pontus Schultz, head of business development at Bonnier R&D. The model of investment for BMI is to provide advertising space within Bonnier-owned media in exchange for company shares.

In particular, BMI is interested in companies working within digital media that should either fill an interesting niche, provide a new business model or have strong growth opportunities. Companies, which can be anything from startups to medium-sized, need to be able to fit into the bigger Bonnier world, Schultz says, and should significantly benefit from marketing to prove that the business model works or to take the business further. "Bonnier needs to have strategic relationships with entrepreneurs," he says, "and we can give them marketing muscle."

In its first year, BMI has invested in eight companies that span a range of services and target groups:

• Compricer.se compares prices for consumers
• Reseguiden.se provides travel services
• Netdoktor.se offers health information
• Shakemyworld.se is a dating site
• Evigaminnen.se has obituaries
• Smartsenior.se points to senior citizen discounts
• Dokumera.se is a business-to-business site
• Servicefinder.se lets users search for services.

The investment isn't always only in advertising, Schultz says. Other Bonnier subsidiaries serve as "mentor" companies. "They come to us for marketing, but we are continuing to further develop what kind of support we provide," he says.

As for the future? "We will continue to build up slowly but surely," says Schultz. "The result will be an exciting portfolio of companies."

The BMI team includes Patrik Rosén, Peter Brodén and Emil Andersson who work on identifying the companies, and Alexander Jamal and Schultz from Bonnier R&D.