The Big One

New media brands have made major waves this year with digital publishers likeBuzzFeed and Vice claiming large funding rounds and valuations ($50M/850M for BuzzFeed and $500M/2.5B for Vice). Now Vox Media, the emerging force that people forget has headquarters in D.C., has raised $46.5M at a roughly $380M valuation.General Atlantic invested $45M, while return backers Accel Partners and Khosla Ventures completed the round.

Vox has done a few things very well, contributing to their success and continued growth: a) built out an in-house creative agency b) capitalized on the unbundling of media by starting and buying vertical-specific brands c) focused on its technology by building the Chorus CMS. CEO Jim Bankoff says he expects Vox to be profitable in 2015. He also suggested that unlike the company’s last round of funding, Vox will invest this capital into existing brands, as opposed to acquiring new ones like they did earlier this year with theCurbed Network.

Making Moves

According to an SEC filing, Brazen Careerist has raised $875K in what appears to be a convertible debt round. Brazen raised just under $1.2M at the beginning of 2014. The company has an online platform that focuses on hiring and recruiting for companies and universities.

Tim Cook is in D.C. today and he was holding court at the Georgetown Apple Store. According to tweets, team members from Social Tables and SmartThings (owned by Apple competitor, Samsung) happened to meet the CEO while he visited the store.