San Diego News Network, the local news startup that landed former San Diego Union Tribune and Las Vegas Sun exec Chris Jennewein as president (we reported in June on SDNN), has raised $700,000 from a total of 12 investors, according to an SEC filing. The company is closing in on another $1.3 million to bring the entire investment to $2 million.

The site has 19 full time staff plus 23 freelancers and 12 bloggers. Payroll costs are minimal because most of a reporter’s pay comes from an 80 percent cut of the ad revenue generated by the pages on which their stories appear. According to Quantcast, SDNN’s site gets 125,000 visitors a month. That’s far short, though of The San Diego Union Tribune’s Web site at 1.3 million uniques/month.

The network has big ambitions. According to an article in PaidContent.org, a second site in Riverside Calif is set to open and the plan is to ultimately go nationwide.