Contextual Advertising Firm ContextWeb Secures More Funding
ContextWeb, an ad link in site text contestual targeting network similar (but not the same as) Intellitxt, today announced that it has closed a $9 million Series B round of funding, led by Updata Partners. This round of funding, combined with an initial round brings ContextWeb’s total equity investment to date to more than $12 million.
“Internet based, contextual advertising technology is one the largest and fastest growing markets available today,” said Conor Mullett, general partner of Updata Partners. “ContextWeb has a unique and differentiated technology and highly profitable business model that we believe will allow it to be a market leader in its space. This is evidenced by its significant revenue momentum and acquisition of leading customers such as Meredith Corporation and HighBeam Research. We are excited to support the ContextWeb team in building a market leader.”
In conjunction with the financing, Conor Mullett has been appointed to ContextWeb’s Board of Directors. Existing members of the board include Anand Subramanian, CEO of ContextWeb; Jeremy Sterns, CTO of ContextWeb; Chip Meakem, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham; and Bill Wise, CEO of Did-It.
Sounds like some people are slapping some hard cash behind contextual link targeting. It did not work for Intellitxt and Forbes, but as more and more sites join such networks, the more accepted and perhaps used it may become. ContextWeb’s motto is “Connect with users who are browsing content relevant to your product.” – sounds like a reasonable form of online advertising to me.
