National paywall firm Piano Media recieves €2m investment

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Piano Media, the company behind national paywalls in Slovakia and Slovenia, has today announced that the firm is receiving a €2 million (£1.65 million) investment boost.

According to a release, the investment from 3TS Capital Partners will be used to "continue Piano's expansion, drive global recruitment and software development, escalate Piano's marketing and cement Piano's position as the international leader in paid-content expertise". Piano Media , which launched the joint online subscription-based content payment system in Slovakia last May and in January was adopted by several Slovene publishers , is now used by 20 publishers with more than 60 websites and services.

Piano is expecting three to four countries to adopt the group model this year and has an overall target of 50 countries, requiring four or five publishers in each to participate.

"3TS targets investments in fast growing companies in central and eastern Europe and thus Piano Media is in the core of our focus given its global challenger potential," Pekka Mäki, managing partner of 3TS said in the release.

Tomáš Bella, Piano's chief executive added, "Our €300,000 seed funding, raised in 2011, enabled us to launch in two countries and prove Piano's model works.

"This deal represents the next step in Piano's growth; helping speed our expansion, recruit top talent, ramp up our marketing, broaden our sales channels and keep improving our software."

Funding comes from the Technology in Central and Eastern Europe Fund S.C.A. SICAR, informally known as 3TS Cisco Growth Fund, established in 2007 as a growth capital fund in which Cisco participated as the lead investor.

• See our feature which asks Slovene publishers about the joint paywall