Press Release
SAN MATEO, Calif. — (June 22, 2010) Brand.net, the online display and video advertising platform that drives proven offline sales for Brand advertisers, today announced the closing of a $14 million Series C financing. Led by Focus Ventures, with participation by existing investors InterWest Partners and Norwest Venture Partners, the funding comes as the company reports revenue more than doubling year over year and rapidly expanding agency adoption of Brand.net’s proprietary online Media Futures PlatformTM. Simultaneously, Brand.net announced the opening of its first West Coast office and the addition of online sales veterans from Yahoo!, Conde Nast and Time Warner.
“Online brand advertising is a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and Brand.net possesses a rare combination: a proven track record with the brand advertising community and technology that enables a scalable, profitable business,” said Kevin J. McQuillan, co-founder and General Partner of Focus Ventures. “We believe that Brand.net’s proven ability to drive high ROI offline sales at maximum impact and minimum cost will accelerate brand advertisers’ budget shift from traditional to online media.”
Brand.net’s revenue growth reflects its strong core customer base, with 8 of the 10 largest Consumer Packaged Goods companies (CPGs) active in Q2, and the activation of additional CPG, Retail, Quick Serve Restaurant, Energy and Entertainment brands at six figure spends during the quarter. Brand.net’s newest product offering, preroll video, generated over $1 million in sales in its first 90 days.
The company’s fully automated Media Futures PlatformTM provides brand advertisers and agencies with Quality, Scale and Value. Guaranteed.®, offering web-wide page-level quality filtering, tight management of campaign reach, frequency, composition, smoothness and breadth, and inventory price and delivery guaranteed up to twelve months in advance. Recent Nielsen and comScore studies confirm that Brand.net’s campaigns drive the highest offline sales ROI on the Internet.
“Brand.net is the proven leader in driving offline sales through online advertising,” said Elizabeth Blair, CEO and Cofounder of Brand.net. “The agency community has responded powerfully to our precisely managed campaigns and strong results, and the Media Futures PlatformTM is designed and built to respond to the specific challenges they have presented. From SafeScreenTM page level quality filtering technology, to SalesLinkTM offline sales measurement product, from our recently implemented preroll video product, to an agency-facing application we will launch with a large agency partner in Fall 2010 – we focus directly on meeting the needs of Top 100 U.S. advertisers. We are excited that Focus Ventures has joined the Brand.net family, and are keen to expand our relationships and business with the biggest Brand advertisers and agencies in the second half of 2010 and beyond.
About Brand.net
Brand.net drives proven efficient, effective and profitable offline sales for top Brand advertisers through online display and video advertising. The Company created and operates the first and only online Media Futures PlatformTM, providing advertisers and agencies with Quality, Scale and Value. Guaranteed.®: web-wide page-level quality filtering, tight management of campaign reach, frequency, composition, smoothness and breadth, and inventory price and delivery guaranteed up to twelve months in advance. Brand.net’s customers include the largest agencies and Brand advertisers in the world across consumer packaged goods, retail, quick service restaurant, pharmaceutical, entertainment, finance and technology. The Company is privately held and headquartered in Silicon Valley, with sales offices throughout the US.
