Tech-news blog to open local bureau

BOULDER – Technology industry news blog Xconomy plans to open a bureau in the Boulder/Denver area after raising $50,000 to pay a full-time writer through a crowdfunding campaign.

Local tech community gurus David Cohen and Brad Feld, both partners at The Foundry Group LLC in Boulder, promoted the crowdfunding campaign to raise $50,000 for the project. Xconomy delivers news through online blogs and holds events. An Xconomy spokesman was not immediately available to answer questions about when the news bureau is expected to open or where it will be located.

Companies that pledged $1,000 or more would receive memberships that included branding/advertising on the Xconomy website and invitations to Xconomy events, among other things, according to a promotional page on Xconomy’s website.

Companies in the region that signed up to be members read like a Who’s Who of the local startup world, including Application Experts Inc., Biovantage Resources Inc., Full Contact Inc., GoSpotCheck Inc. (the trade name of CT Corporation System), Gnip Inc., Orbotix Inc., PaySimple Inc., PivotDesk Inc., Precog (the trade name for ReportGrid Inc.), Rally Software Development International Corp., SendGrid Inc., Standing Cloud Inc., SnapEngage, Simple Energy Solutions LLC, Swiftpage, Sympoz Inc. and TechStars.

Xconomy has existing bureaus in Boston, Detroit, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

Crowdfunding is a new, online funding mechanism in which consumers can give directly to individuals and companies looking for money. It has gained interest after the federal JOBS Act, or Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, was signed into law in April. The JOBS Act creates an initial regulatory framework for crowdfunding. The Securities and Exchange Commission also is working on more detailed rules to govern it.