SAN FRANCISCO--- AdBrite Announces $23 Million in Series C Funding; DAG Ventures and Mitsui Ventures Join Sequoia Capital in Ba
AdBrite, the Internet's Ad Marketplace, today announced $23 million in Series C venture funding. The current round includes follow-on investment by Sequoia Capital as well as new participation from DAG Ventures and Mitsui Ventures. AdBrite also announced the appointment of Peter Sealey, former Coca-Cola CMO, to the company's board of directors.
The closing of additional blue-chip investment capital crowns a year of expansion and transformation for AdBrite. In the past twelve months, AdBrite launched a real-time auction model and an expanding range of ad formats to deliver transparency and price-efficiency for online advertisers and publishers.
"A steady succession of product innovations -- including BritePic, Full Page Ad, and our new Facebook App Channel -- have fueled AdBrite's rapid growth," said Ignacio Fanlo, CEO of AdBrite. "This additional funding and new board expertise will help accelerate our expansion."
Deloitte's Rising Star program recently named AdBrite the third-fastest-growing young technology company in North America. AdBrite is also the third-largest ad provider in the US, behind only Google and Advertising.com in page-views, according to Comscore's October ranking of advertising networks.
The current round of funding is the company's third. Sequoia Capital led AdBrite's Series A round in 2004, and was joined in 2006 by Artis Capital Management for the Series B.
"We saw from the very beginning that AdBrite's unique platform could bring increased efficiency and transparency to online advertisers and publishers," said Mark Kvamme, Partner at Sequoia Capital. "We are pleased with AdBrite's progress in building the Internet's most transparent and trusted advertising marketplace."
"AdBrite's success to date demonstrates the considerable market demand for new, more effective online ad formats and a simple, efficient way for advertisers to reach engaged consumers on premier mid- and long-tail content sites," said Young Chung, Partner at DAG Ventures. "We're excited to help AdBrite expand on its leadership position and enhance its unique offerings."
Peter Sealey Joins Board of Directors
In a sign of AdBrite's increasing commitment to enabling major brands to advertise online, the company announced the appointment of former Coca-Cola CMO Peter Sealey to its board of directors. While at Coke, Sealey was responsible for the now-famous "Always Coca-Cola" advertising campaign. He also served as President of Marketing and Distribution at Columbia Pictures in the late 80's where his releases include Ghostbusters, La Bamba, Karate Kid, Stand By Me & Tootsie.
About AdBrite
AdBrite is the Internet's Ad Marketplace. The company makes it easy to buy and sell advertising online, giving advertisers and publishers more transparency and control than any other ad network. With innovative products like BritePic, InVideo and Full Page Ad, AdBrite has created a simple and more effective advertising marketplace for advertisers and publishers of all sizes. AdBrite serve ads on over a billion pages a day.
AdBrite was founded by Philip Kaplan and Gidon Wise in 2002 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. AdBrite is backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, and Mitsui Ventures. For more information, visit http://www.adbrite.com/.
About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital provides startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs", Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of nVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube and Steve Goldman and Sujal Patel of Isilon Networks. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit http://www.sequoiacap.com/.
About DAG Ventures
DAG Ventures is a venture capital partnership investing in and helping outstanding entrepreneurs create leading, long-term companies across a range of markets. With roots from the 1980's in cable TV, infrastructure, media, and wireless industries, the partnership today is privileged to work with world- class entrepreneurs as they build tomorrow's leaders in the information technology, energy, and life science sectors.
About Mitsui Ventures
Mitsui Ventures is a provider of early stage venture capital for various types of technology firms with a special expertise in helping to build their businesses globally. Over the years, we have invested in breakthrough technologies in the communication, software, information series, life science, and medical device industries and accelerated their growth worldwide. MVC Corp. based in Tokyo is the HQ for Mitsui & Co.'s global venture capital operation, with its US arm Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners (MCVP) located in New York and Silicon Valley, they manages more than $400 million in venture capital. Its parent, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Is one of the largest and world's most diversified and comprehensive trading, investment, and service enterprises in Japan.