The founder and editor of TechCrunch Michael Arrington is to step down from the role and is to create a US$20m venture capital fund. AOL bought TechCrunch last year for an estimated US$25m to US$35m.
Arrington is to create a new fund called the CrunchFund which he will no doubt use to support his primary passion – tech start-ups.
It is understood he will continue to write for TechCrunch but will no longer have editorial control or decision making responsibilities.
According to Fortune, Arrington’s partner in the fund will be Patrick Gallagher of VantagePoint Venture Partners and co-investors will include Silicon Valley venture capital firms and founders.
AOL will also be a partner in the fund.
Before starting highly influential TechCrunch Arrington was a lawyer specialising in Silicon Valley firms.
He started TechCrunch in 2005 and as of February the site had more than 4.5 million RSS subscribers and was ranked No 2 in Technorati and No 1 in the info/tech category.