Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Adconion Media Group raises record $80M venture round
Capital to Fund Global Ad Network’s North American Expansion, Technology
Development and Strategic Acquisitions
Adconion Media Group, the global independent online advertising network which has established operations in three North American markets, today announced it has closed an $80 million Series C round of funding led by Index Ventures and existing investor Wellington Partners, the largest European internet media venture investment in history and among the largest for an independent online ad network.
In recent months, three year-old Adconion, which has existing operations throughout Europe and Australia, has assembled its North American management team from a roster of industry veterans responsible for creating and managing some of the world’s most-recognized Internet advertising companies including DoubleClick, MSN, Yahoo, IAC and Avenue A (now Avenue A/Razorfish). Adconion CEO and Founder, Tyler Moebius was himself a Series A investor and early employee of Avenue A. An undisclosed minority percentage of the total capital raised during this $80M round will fund Adconion’s continued global expansion throughout North America and Asia.
The strategic decision by Index Ventures, which counts Skype, MySQL, Last.fm, Netvibes, Joost and Spot Runner among its portfolio of successful technology companies, to invest in Adconion was informed by the company’s unique value proposition to marketers seeking not only domestic, but global ad distribution through a single, independent network that reaches nearly 200 million unique Internet users worldwide (comScore January 2008).
“At the risk of sounding cliché, the modern business landscape is irrefutably global in scale and that is due primarily to the opportunities created by the Internet,” said Moebius. “Agencies choose to partner with Adconion because their clients are likely in a position where doing business internationally is either business as usual or a strategic opportunity for growth. This generous investment from Index and Wellington will position Adconion alongside the portals on marketer’s short-lists for global distribution partners.”
“Adconion has the relationships, the industry expertise and the best-in-class technology becoming of a future market leader in technology’s hottest growth sector,” said Dom Vidal, Partner, Index Ventures. “Our experience as investors in the advertising space enables us to support Adconion in continuing its rapid expansion throughout North America and to further build its global presence.”
“Tyler and his team have done an outstanding job building a truly global online advertising network,” said Frank Boehnke, Wellington Partners. "We are very excited to continue to work with Tyler and Adconion on one of the most exciting growth stories in the global marketplace.”
