Home Ad Exchange News The Live Blog! Rubicon Project Announces $18 Million Financing; Acquires FAN

The Live Blog! Rubicon Project Announces $18 Million Financing; Acquires FAN

SHARE:

Here’s the press release (read it): Regarding the funding, “The Rubicon Project also announced an $18 million round of funding, bringing total financial investments to $60 million. The current financing round included funding from News Corporation, Clearstone Venture Partners, IDG Ventures Asia, Mayfield Fund, NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund and Jarl Mohn. the Rubicon Project reached profitability in October 2010, ahead of plan and excluding any revenue from the FAN acquisition, it will generate more than $100 million in revenue in 2010.”

From the call:

Details coming, but the top line from the call thus far is that in addition to $18 million in financing and acquiring Fox Audience Network assets, CEO Frank Addante says that FAN CEO John Carnahan will join RP and the company is profitable with a $100 million run rate – pre-FAN acquisition. He said that the the FAN Acquisition accelerates Rubicon Project platform development by 18-24 months.

Rubicon Project

More notes:

  • Still positioning REVV platform as the platform for publishers.
  • “No other company in the world reaches more people than the Rubicon Project. 1/2 trillion of real-time bids in the past two or three months.” – Addante

The FAN integration

  • The plan: Yield optimization; Enable publishers direct sales team; Down the stack and replace publisher’s ad server.
  • Addante stresses 100s of million dollars invested in FAN by News Corp.
  • “interesting” pre-search technology in FAN.
  • Over 100 people from FAN (Was 300?); also had a FAN direct sales team – Addante says the company walked away from direct sales model and did not acquire that sales team.
  • Strategic Data Corp assets is 11 years under development (now under RP umbrella).
  • Positioning as an alternative to Google with “3x more scale.”  Again, Addante hints about search technology.
  • RP is audience targeting vs. Google’s contexual targeting according to Addante.
  • Stressing “we don’t sell directly to advertisers.”
  • April 2011 launch of primary ad server.
  • $200 million in revenue in 2011 says Addante.
  • MyAds roadmap still under development. REVV platform will handle publisher side of FAN assets/network.

Must Read

play button with many coins isolated on blue background. The concept of monetization of the video. Making money on video content. minimal style. 3d rendering

Exclusive: Connatix And JW Player Merge To Create A One-Stop Shop For Video Monetization

On Wednesday, video monetization platforms Connatix and JW Player announced plans to merge into a new entity called JWP Connatix. The deal was first rumored in July.

HUMAN Raises $50 Million

HUMAN plans to build a deterministic ID from its tracking of more than 20 trillion digital signals per week across 3 billion devices, which will aid attribution for ecommerce.

Buyers Can Now Target High-Attention Inventory In The Trade Desk

By applying Adelaide’s Attention Unit scoring, buyers can target low-, medium- and high-attention inventory via TTD’s self-serve platform.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters

How Should Advertisers Navigate A TikTok Ban Or Google Breakup? Just Ask Brian Wieser

The online advertising industry is staring down the barrel of not one but two potential shutdowns that could radically change where brands put their ad dollars in 2025, according to Madison and Wall’s Brian Weiser and Olivia Morley.

Intent IQ Has Patents For Ad Tech’s Most Basic Functions – And It’s Not Afraid To Use Them

An unusual dilemma has programmatic vendors and ad tech platforms worried about a flurry of potential patent infringement suits.

TikTok Video For Open Web Publishers? Outbrain Built It.

Outbrain is trying to shed its chumbox rep by bringing social media-style vertical video to mobile publishers on the open web.