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Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lehman Brothers participate in this second round of funding
San Francisco, CA, Monday, 12 August 2007 – Kontera, the leading In-Text Advertising solution provider for web publishers and advertisers, announced today that it has secured $10.3 million in their second round of funding from Carmel Ventures with participation by Sequoia Capital and Lehman Brothers. Rina Shainski, General Partner of Carmel Ventures, will be joining the board of Kontera.
ContentLinkSM, Kontera’s flagship product, is an In-Text ad unit based on a patent pending real-time contextual analysis technology that finds relevant keywords on a publisher’s web page and automatically turns them into a link to the most relevant ad from among Kontera´s thousands of advertisers. ContentLink, available with text, images, rich media and video, enables web publishers to monetize untapped and incremental ad revenue, while providing marketers with a better ROI than with other advertising vehicles. To learn more about the ContentLink and ContentLink Rich Media, please click here.
"The field of In-Text Advertising is rapidly growing and enhancing the world of online advertising, which is eager for innovation. We believe that Kontera, with its unique offering and superior technology, is well-positioned to lead in this growing market,” said Rina Shainski, General Partner of Carmel Ventures.
With user intent driving the growth of social networking and other forms of user-contributed media, Kontera’s solution is uniquely positioned to generate revenue for publishers and improve ROI for advertisers. Only Kontera’s In-Text Advertising technology analyzes web content and serves contextually relevant keyword links in real-time.
“Kontera’s ContentLink In-Text Advertising is a great way for a web publisher to easily monetize their website without being intrusive or spammy,” said GrownUpGeek website and blog founder Randy Brown, “and a great complement for AdSense.”
“The Click-Through Rate (CTR) we see with Kontera is phenomenal compared to our other advertising. We usually get about a .3% with most of our pay-per-click advertising campaigns,” said TechSmith Advertising Specialist Jennifer Bedford, ”but with Kontera’s In-Text advertising, we’re seeing CTRs upwards of 10%.”
“We at Kontera continue to deliver on our vision for the In-Text market by serving ads and information that best match the user’s intent as deduced from the content the user is browsing,” said Yoav Shaham, CEO and founder of Kontera. “With user intent driving the growth for online activities today, from social networking and widgets to blogging and product reviews, Kontera is the right choice to maximize value for publishers, advertisers and users alike.”
“This round of funding will be used to scale our sales, marketing and R&D operations to meet client and market growth,” added Shaham.
About Carmel VenturesFounded in 2000 by pioneers and leaders of the Israeli high tech industry, Carmel Ventures is one of Israel’s leading venture capital funds focused on information technology investments with $372 million under management. Led by former entrepreneurs and executives of the software, communications and investment industries, Carmel provides active, hands-on support to its portfolio companies. Carmel headquartered in Herzliya, Israel enjoys a worldwide network of industry, strategic and investment resources. Carmel provides significant capital and support through the growth cycle of its portfolio companies and is recognized as a true company building fund in Israel. For more information, please visit www.carmelventures.com.
About Sequoia CapitalSince 1972, Sequoia Capital has provided startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the “Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs”, Sequoia Capital’s Partners have worked with innovators such as Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Gaurav Garg of Redback Networks, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor, Lou Tomasetta of Vitesse Semiconductor, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Larry Ellison of Oracle. The companies organized by Sequoia Capital now account for about 10% of the value of NASDAQ. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.
About Lehman BrothersLehman Brothers, an innovator in global finance, serves the financial needs of corporations, governments and municipalities, institutional clients, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Founded in 1850, Lehman Brothers maintains leadership positions in equity and fixed income sales, trading and research, investment banking, private investment management, asset management and private equity. The firm is headquartered in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Tokyo, and operates in a network of offices around the world. Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, established in 1995, targets mid- to later-stage venture capital investments in companies capable of turning innovative technology solutions into successful businesses. For further information about Lehman Brothers’ services, products, and recruitment opportunities, please visit the firm’s website .
About Kontera
Kontera is a leading provider of In-Text Advertising Solutions, based on patent-pending contextual analysis technology that increases revenue and ROI for both web publishers and advertisers. The company´s flagship product, an In-Text ad unit called ContentLink, is a contextually relevant keyword that is discovered in real time on a web page from within Kontera´s vast network of publishers and is automatically turned into a link to the most relevant ad from among Kontera´s thousands of advertisers. Kontera is backed by Sequoia Capital and Lehman Brothers, with offices in San Francisco and Israel. For more about Kontera, visit www.kontera.com.
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