FiscalNote to Acquire CQ Roll Call From The Economist Group

New SIPA member FiscalNote, a rapidly growing Washington-based company that uses technology to track and analyze legislation around the world, made major headlines yesterday by announcing that it intends to acquire another SIPA member, CQ Roll Call, from The Economist Group.

"By acquiring CQ Roll Call, FiscalNote will be positioned to provide best-in-class solutions in the issues management space," said Tim Hwang, CEO of FiscalNote, in a company press release. "We are excited to provide our clients with greater access to enhanced products that will inform their decision making and maximize their influence on government as they tackle the challenging issues impacting their business."

"The injection of technology and innovation into CQ Roll Call is the best way for CQ Roll Call to grow," added Paul McHale, CQ Roll Call president, in an article on the Roll Call site..

The deal should close by the end of the year. The Economist Group will get an 18% equity stake in FiscalNote. Chris Stibbs, CEO of London-based Economist Group, will join the FiscalNote board. The Economist Group bought CQ in 2009 and merged it with Roll Call, which it acquired in full in 1993.

"We have a very strong and robust business. Over the last few years, we have struggled to see how we could continue strong and robust growth," Stibbs said. "We value editorial integrity above all else. We would not consider a transaction with anybody, in any part of our business if we did not believe they would uphold those values."

Hwang and Stibbs said that, as much as computers can facilitate the gathering of information in vast and often untidy government networks, they cannot match the nuanced analysis that humans can provide.

"A computer can't tell a narrative," Hwang said. "It can't dive deep into emotions. It can't provide more context around data and information. I think that computers are very, very good at aggregating data. They are very, very good at finding patterns. But beyond that, there's just not a lot of context that is being provided there. Particularly stories around human relationships, which to a large extant is the story of Washington."

FiscalNote has raised more than $50 million since it was founded in 2013 by Hwang and two childhood friends. Investors include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of Facebook fame, Jerry Yang/AME Cloud Ventures and Steve Case.Their executive board includes former Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth and retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

According to their website, "FiscalNote began out of our desire to answer a fairly simple question: why isn't there a way to keep track of what's happening in government—at every level—in a simple, comprehensive, and reliable way?" To do this, they use computer programs to scrape and analyze legislative data to forecast what will happen in Congress and other government entities.

"FiscalNote's technology-driven approach to products and services is the perfect complement to CQ Roll Call's editorial excellence and advocacy services," said Stibbs. "I look forward to joining FiscalNote's board of directors to support it on the next phase of its remarkable journey."

Welcome New Members

We are excited to welcome the following new members to the SIPA community:

BizHack Academy - BizHack is an accelerated learning program that offers programs in-person and online to train small business owners and entrepreneurs in the technology tools for marketing and sales that will allow them to grow their business and accelerate their career.

Cambey and West Inc. - Advanced technology with personal service. This has been the mantra at Cambey & West since it was founded in 1986 by Alan Cambey and Diane Cuéllar. Their sophisticated database system integrates diverse audience touch-points around a single customer record—with no siloed data.

Decisive Publishing - Decisive Publishing is the publisher of the Communications Day, CommsDay ASEAN, Broadband Communities, CommsDay Weekly and Asian Century publications. Communications Day Australasia is Australia and New Zealand's most respected source of daily telecom industry news and commentary.

Ebner Verlag - Ebner Verlag GmbH & Co KG prints and publishes journals, technical periodicals, and special Interest magazines. Its publications include Art Aurea, Chronos, Film & TV Kameramann and WatchTime. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ulm, Germany.

HCM Technology Report - Trade news and analysis for the HCM technology community.

O'Brien Media Group – Providing data-driven marketing services that expand audience, improve engagement, and grow revenue.

Robert Dippell, Jay McGill, Jeff Gruenhut Join M&A Advisor Grimes, McGovern & Associates

M&A advisor Grimes McGovern & Associates has added three new associates in its Global Media, Events & Information Services Group. Robert Dippell, formerly VP of corporate development at Praetorian Digital and founder of Overscore, has joined to focus on B2B media and events. Jay McGill, former publishing director at Hearst Corp. has joined to focus on B2C media and events, while Jeff Gruenhut, publisher at Formula4Media, has also joined to focus on B2B media and events. Grimes, McGovern recently served as the exclusive M&A advisor on the sale of Horizon Travel and On the Go Toronto to Lazarus Bleau, Inc.

Relias Media Launches 'Rounds With Relias,' a New Podcast

Along with new branding, Relias Media is launching a free podcast focused on risk management for healthcare providers. The first series examines infection control and prevention in healthcare. In the 27-minute, inaugural episode of Rounds With Relias, Janet Stout, PhD, Legionella expert and president of Special Pathogens Laboratory, describes factors involved in Legionnaires' disease outbreaks and offers advice to healthcare leaders.

IRMI and Business Insurance Announce New Media Partnership

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Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 and SIIA in 2013 as editorial director…