Rafat Ali, who founded and eventually sold Santa Monica-based online paidContent to Guardian News & Media, has returned from several years of travel on the road, and launched his latest startup, Skift. The new startup--based in New York--launched Monday, and said it will focus on offering "news, insights, data, tools, and services" to professionals in the travel industry and for professional business travelers. Ali founded ContentNext, the parent firm of paidContent, mocoNews, and contentSutra, selling it for what was at the time worth $30M back in 2008; ContentNext was recently sold, again, to GigaOM. Ali had departed ContentNext and Los Angeles, back in 2010, to embark on what he called a "head-clearing trip of a lifetime." Skift is backed by around $500,000 from angel investors. More information »