New York, N.Y. – February 25, 2008 – 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.”
About Adconion
Adconion Media Group is an international, independent Advertising Network. Since its founding in 2005 the company has focused on the realization of performance-driven branding campaigns that deliver massive global reach. Adconion’s clients consist of advertising agencies and direct advertisers as well as its partner base of premium websites from a wide range of sectors. Adconion combines its in-house technology and high touch client service with quality media to exceed its partners campaign objectives. Adconion has offices around the world in London, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Toronto and Santa Monica. Adconion is member of the International Advertising Bureau (IAB) and a founding member of IASH Europe. Visit Adconion at www.adconion.com.
About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading European venture capital firm active in technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping top entrepreneurial teams in the Information Technology and Life Science sectors build their companies into market defining global leaders. The firm has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses on investments from seed through growth stage companies. Recent exits include Skype (the pioneering communications company acquired by eBay); MySQL (the world’s most popular open source database recently acquired by Sun), Last.fm (the world’s largest social music platform, recently acquired by CBS) and BioXell (BIOX, floated on the SWX in 2007). For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com.
About Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners ranks among the most successful pan-European venture capital firms. With € 800 million under management and offices in London, Munich and Zurich, the firm invests into opportunities throughout Europe that have the potential to become global leaders, mainly in the areas of Information Technology, Media Convergence and Life Science. Wellington Partners has invested in more than 100 companies in Europe and Israel, including now publicly traded Actelion, SAF and XING, successful privately held companies like Alando (acquired by eBay) and ImmobilienScout24 (acquired by Deutsche Telekom) as well as current portfolio companies like Adconion Astaro, Questico and Truphone. For more information, please visit www.wellingtonpartners.com.
