Outside.in, the blogger and hyperlocal news site aggregator, has scored $7 million in a new round of financing that includes CNN — a relationship that will involve a content tie and that echoes MSNBC.com‘s outright acquisition last summer of Everyblock. The company has raised in excess of $12 million, according to calculations by paidContent.

Outside.in will use the new round of money to build out its content and advertising platforms and double its 15-person headcount, says CEO Mark Josephson. The company will especially focus on hiring developers and product people.

Josephson adds that the CNN tie should be seen as validation for the entire company and the space, and that Outside.in’s relationship with CNN could eventually provide access to other Warner properties as well.

Josephson is a featured speaker at ILM:09 on the local lifestyle panel with Yahoo’s Lem Lloyd and Village Voice Media’s Scott Tobias.