Central Penn Business Journal, Jan. 20

VC firm invests in Journal Publications 

Penn Venture Partners, a Harrisburg-based venture-capital group, has invested an undisclosed sum in Journal Publications Inc. (JPI), publisher of Central Penn Business Journal and Central Penn Parent. Dean Kline, deputy director of Penn Ventures, said his organization and JPI agreed not to divulge the terms of the investment. 

As part of the deal, Kline will join JPI's board of directors. The Harrisburg-based publisher used a portion of the investment proceeds to acquire New Jersey-based Snowden Publications Inc. and its flagship publication, NJBiz. The New Brunswick-based business journal covers all of New jersey and has about 9,000 subscribers. JPI has roughly 10,000 subscribers and reported revenue of about $4.9 million in 2004. It employs about 50 people and added approximately 25 more when it acquired Snowden.