Rue89, a French alternative news site founded by disgruntled former Libération editors, has attracted a €1.1 million investment after selling a 24.9 percent stake to backers including Fotolog operator Hi-Media.

Named for the French revolution of 1789, the site was formed by Pierre Haski, Pascal Riché, Arnaud Aubron, Michel Lévy-Provençal and Laurent Mauriac in May 2007 after Libération, under a new owner, cut newsroom staff; it promptly won an audience with several scoops and now numbers 600,000 monthly users. There’s even a rudimentary English translation.

Investors are the Halmahera family (€100,000), journalist Khedaoudj Zemmouri (€100,000), production company film firm Midi-Minuit (€200,000), ad network Hi-Media (€300,000) and Verdoso Media (€300,000). The founders now hold 51.3 percent, “friend investors” have 17.6 percent for a €100,000 investment and Rue89 users hold 6.1 percent. Founders said the money would be “entirely devoted to the development of the website”.