Gather.com raked in $10 million Friday for its social network for grownups from two big media companies, Hearst and McGraw-Hill, along with Pilot House Ventures and some angel investors.

Those include Jack Connors, chairman of the ad agency Hill Holliday Connors Cosmopulos, and Gather.com CEO Tom Gerace and members of his family.

The Boston-based company plans to use the funds to expand internationally as well as draw more top-shelf participants who can chat with the site’s participants, who are generally a more mature group than the average social net.

Book publishers, media companies, advertising agencies, consumer brands, and movie studios have been drawn to the site.

“We focus on really building engaged informed communities around topics that groups would like to explore, like politics, food, wine, travel, and health,” said Mr. Gerace.

The site attempts to draw in well-known personalities to interact with members, not just the latest pop star. U.S. Senator Evan Bayh participated on Thursday, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is on tap for next week. Gather.com has also featured a number of New York Times bestselling authors in the past year.

Mr. Gerace acknowledged that the company may be able to bring in some writers from the Hearst magazines and McGraw-Hill textbooks, but said the site had not made any definite plans yet with its latest partners.

“The round came together very quickly,” he said. “We’re just working through the business side of the relationship with McGraw-Hill and Hearst. Each of them is an international business, but we do expect to focus on community and content relationships.”

He said Gather was approached in the spring by one of the media players, but the site was not trying to seek financing at the time. “We called our board together and decided a strategic relationship might make sense because it would accelerate our growth,” said Mr. Gerace. “We wanted best-of-breed players.”

International Gathering

Gather.com plans to continue with significant technology development next year. Toward the latter part of the year, the company will begin internationalizing the site by adapting it for multiple languages.

Mr. Gerace said the company will also grow through both partnerships and investment to build the community and content on the site.

The company launched in December 2004 with a seed round of $3 million from Mr. Gerace, members of his family, and the American Public Media Group.

Another funding round, of $10 million, came in December 2005, led by Jim Manzi, the former chief executive of Lotus Development, and Allen and Company. Former U.S. Senator and New York Knicks basketball player Bill Bradley joined the board, as did Mr. Manzi.

The company has been earning revenue from sponsorship and advertising from companies like Volvo, American Express, Starbucks, and Brookstone. The first ad from General Mills also went live Friday, the first consumer packaged goods company to advertise on the site.

Mr. Connors will help Gather.com build even stronger relationships with advertising and media-buying agencies across the country.

Mr. Gerace considers Mr. Connors to be “a dean of the advertising industry.” Mr. Connors, who founded his Boston-based ad agency 38 years ago, is also joining the Gather.com board.

“Jack is helping us understand that space, build value for our agency partners, and learn how to speak that language,” said Mr. Gerace. “That will help accelerate our revenue growth as well.”