US industry group the Local Media Association has announced it has joined Automattic in a “strategic investment” in service provider BlueLena.

LMA chief executive Nancy Lane described the move as an “important step” in the group’s evolution: “Rather than stockpile money for a rainy day, we are choosing to invest in an R&D company that will drive revenue and audience growth for small to midsize local media organisations.”

LMA said it completed the transaction this week in tandem with Automattic –originator of the WordPress content and commerce ecosystem – which led the investment round. An agreement between Automattic and BlueLena will also augment its Newspack suite of publishing tools for small and medium-sized publishers.

Lane says the LMA board and senior leadership agreed that BlueLena was well positioned in the media technology ecosystem to help address critical needs for smaller local media organisations to strengthen consumer revenue streams.

“From the moment we saw the BlueLena demo, we knew this could be game changing,” she said. “We’ve known Daniel Williams for a long time and have deep respect for him.

“Teaming up with Kinsey Wilson and the team at Automattic/Newspack made this a no-brainer.”

LMA chair Catherine Badalamente – who is incoming chief execiutive of Graham Media Group – said the vote was unanimous. “We hope it helps BlueLena fill gaps in local media infrastructure, in turn improving the financial health of the local news ecosystem.”

The business agreement with Newspack, bolstered by the investment from its parent, Automattic, also gave LMA leaders confidence that BlueLena’s solution set would align well with the sustainability needs of small and midsize media outlet, including publishers of colour, a focus area for LMA and its affiliated Local Media Foundation.

The group says six of the ten publishers in the Word In Black collaborative had converted their digital properties to WordPress and Newspack, and would be eligible for discounts on BlueLena services because of the new Newspack business partnership.

Newspack founder Kinsey Wilson said their partnership with LMA had been a key part of their strategy. “We’re delighted they chose to join us in this investment in BlueLena,” he said.

BlueLena has partnerships with Pico, ActiveCampaign, Zapier, SurveyMonkey and Tableau to provide an integrated marketing stack built to support registration, monetisation, activation and engagement for local news outlets, as well as with longtime industry-related research and development firms including TownNews, Social News Desk, Sparkloop and Subtext.

Prior to starting BlueLena in 2020, founders Daniel Williams and James Gold established marketing solutions provider LEAP Media Solutions.

Williams thanked LMA, Automattic and Newspack for their support, which came as a “crucial time” for community media. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution for publishers, and we are inspired by the diversity of news organisations and business models that comprise the BlueLena, Newspack and Local Media Association communities,” he said.