Adknowledge.com
March 20, 2006
KANSAS CITY, MO--March 20, 2006 - Adknowledge, Inc., a technology firm focused on helping small businesses better market to online consumers, announced today that it has sold a minority ownership interest to Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) for $48 million. As part of the investment in Adknowledge, two TCV partners, Henry Feinberg and Will Griffith, will join the Adknowledge board of directors.
Adknowledge, which has more than doubled its revenues each year since its founding in January 2004, will use the funding to accelerate its market expansion and position the company for an impressive future. The company is aligned to capitalize on the increasing demand for online advertising, which Jupiter Research1 predicts will experience a compound annual growth rate of 9.6 percent over the next five years, generating $18.9 billion in 2010.
"Out of all the firms we considered, TCV was our number one choice because of its specific focus and proven track record in late-stage technology company investments," said Scott Lynn, chief executive officer. "Throughout the diligence process, TCV began lining up several multi-million dollar relationships and discussing our strategic plans for 2006. The TCV team’s insight and industry connections already are playing an important role in helping us to evolve our business for accelerated growth and market expansion."
The TCV investment follows Adknowledge’s recent recruitment of Brett Brewer to serve as the company’s president and serve on its board of directors. Mr. Brewer was formerly president of Intermix Media, the publicly traded parent of Myspace.com, which was sold last year to News Corporation for $673 million.
Brewer stated, "Over the past several years, I’ve seen many companies that promised to target relevant advertising to consumers but only one that could deliver. Each day, Adknowledge matches small businesses – from eye surgeons to laminate floor retailers – with consumers that have a high degree of purchasing propensity. The opportunity was too good to pass up and the match in partnering with TCV was obvious."
Adknowledge was built on the premise of giving small businesses additional places to market online outside of major search engines. For example, in addition to purchasing the keyword “shoes” on Google, an online shoe retailer can purchase advertising in a “shoe” category through Adknowledge and have it syndicated within minutes to consumers whose online behaviors suggest they are interested in buying shoes.
In addition to advertisers, Adknowledge provides a full-service solution to website owners seeking to boost their profitability by outsourcing their banner or email advertising sales. One of Adknowledge’s differentiators is its ability to purchase, for a fixed rate, large amounts of ad inventory from online publishers under long-term contracts. As a result, these publishers are able to focus on their core competency – whether that is building a news portal, a game site, or an online retail store.
Henry Feinberg, TCV partner, noted, &qout;Adknowledge is the only business we’re aware of that is guaranteeing content publishers revenue for their ad space and serving thousands of highly targeted, relevant advertisers within more than 1,200 categories. The financial growth the business has experienced over the last two years and its prospects for the future are impressive. We’re excited to be part of the team."
Will Griffith, TCV partner, added, "Excluding the major search engines, Adknowledge is the one company that has achieved profitability by offering services that enable small business advertisers to deliver targeted ads to interested consumers. We view Adknowledge’s business as the future model for successful online advertising and look forward to working with the Adknowledge team in realizing the company’s full potential."
About TCV
Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), founded in 1995, is a leading provider of growth capital to technology companies, providing funds to expansion, later-stage private, and public companies. TCV employs a crossover investment model, which combines venture capital with public market investing and enables TCV to continue to invest in its portfolio companies at the IPO and beyond. TCV has made investments in leading companies including Brightmail, CNET, eHarmony, Expedia, InPhonic, Netflix, RealNetworks, and Webroot. TCV has ten partners and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. For more information about TCV, visit " class="xLink">www.tcv.com.
About Adknowledge
Adknowledge is a single destination for advertisers looking for quality
clicks beyond Google® and Yahoo®. Adknowledge operates BidSystem.com,
a multi-channel behavioral targeting ad network in which advertisers seamlessly bid for traffic in display, email and smaller search engines. Over 50,000 advertisers have
used the Adknowledge BidSystem. Additionally, publishers can display
advertisements by integrating the AdStation™ product line of solutions
with their website, email list, or search engine. For more information
about Adknowledge, please visit us at www.Adknowledge.com. To show
Adknowledge ads within your website or email newsletter, please visit
www.AdStation.com. To receive traffic for your website from the
Adknowledge marketplace, please visit www.BidSystem.com.
