RSS Investors -- the newly-formed venture capital firm that is investing in all things related to really simple syndication -- has placed its first bet on a Pacific Northwest company. It joined with SmartForest Ventures to invest $9 million in Portland-based Attensa, according to this press release.

The folks at RSS Investors, which reportedly was looking to raise a $100 million fund, are obviously big believers in the Attensa technology. Here is what John Palfrey had to say about the company and RSS.

"A new wave of Internet technologies including RSS, Attention data analysis, collaborative publishing and social networks are transforming the way people access, create and share information. Soon every citizen on this planet will serve as an editor accessing and sharing highly relevant information with anyone, anywhere. This tremendously powerful concept is being advanced by the technologies and services Attensa is pioneering."

UPDATE: TechCrunch reported that Second Avenue Partners of Seattle also invested in the deal, but I just spoke to Mike Slade who said that he -- along with Pete Higgins and Nick Hanauer -- invested as individuals not as a firm. That's a bit strange since Second Avenue consists of the personal funds of the four partners. So what is the big difference? Slade -- who invested in the company when it was known as You Software -- said there is a "subtle" difference. Furthermore, Slade said he planned to leave the company's board -- partly because it was located in Portland and he could not devote as much time to it. He also said that partners from Cedar Grove Investments sunk some money into the project.

So where is Slade spending his time? The former CEO of Starwave said he is excited about the firm's most recent investment in Newsvine -- a stealth startup I covered in this story.