Earlier this month we did a “Five Questions with Kaboose President Jonathan Graff”:http://www.onedegree.ca/2005/08/04/five-questions-for-jonathan-graff-a-president-kaboose-inc where we asked him:
bq.. *One Degree: Have your business model and sources of revenue changed since the site was first envisioned and if so, how?*
Indeed. Kaboose was founded in 1999 as a multimedia development company and switched to a paid content subscription business in 2002. Finally, in mid-2003 we were receiving many calls from Fortune 500 companies such as Mattel, Kellogg’s and Nintendo who wanted to leverage our network to reach this audience. We analyzed the online ad market and saw tremendous positive differences between then and two years earlier. We changed our focus to become a free online media company supported by advertising and we have become the largest independent online media company in the kids and family space in North America. It was a great move.
p. Well yesterday “there was an announcement”:http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&actionFor=551752 that Kaboose was doing a reverse takeover of Iron Springs Capital to become publicly traded on the TSX Venture exchange.
In addition to the details of the transaction, the press release also states that:
bq. From 2002 to 2004, Kaboose’s unique users have grown from 1.2 million a month to 6.5 million a month (132% CAGR). In addition, for the first six months of 2005, Kaboose generated revenues of $2,333,181, which is greater than total revenues for all of 2004 and 131% greater than the same period in 2004. As of June 30, 2005 (unaudited), Kaboose had approximately $4,500,000 of cash on its balance sheet and total assets of $6,767,678.
Clearly ad-supported online models are getting the respect they deserve, even in Canada. This is good news from where we sit.