Mobile ad network Millennial Media raises $16M in new funding
November 16, 2009
Stella McCartney mobile site
Millennial Media Inc., one of the leading mobile ad networks, has raised $16 million in new funding, a piece of news that comes only a week after Google announced plans to buy AdMob.
The Series C round of funding was led by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, along with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital and Charles River Ventures. All told, Baltimore, MD-based Millennial Media has raised $37.3 million since its launch in May 2006, including a Series B round in October 2007.
“For us this money is to scale past the profitability point to really capture the growth of the mobile display ad business,” said Millennial Media president/CEO Paul Palmieri.
Millennial Media runs mobile display ads for advertisers such as Paramount Pictures, EA, Stella McCartney, Microsoft, Marriott, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Procter & Gamble and Sprint.
Publishers within Millennial Media’s network include ABC, News Corp., MTV Networks, CBS, IAC and AccuWeather.
Paul Palmieri is president/CEO of Millennial Media
Millennial Media will use the extra funds to expand its two-year-old London office to support a renewed push in the European market. Besides this office and the headquarters, the company has outposts in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
The company will also hire new sales and engineering talent, as well as deploy developer monetization programs for handset manufacturers and operating systems providers and wireless carriers.
In addition, Millennial Media will invest in technology, data and research to bring more mobile clarity to advertisers.
Top 10 mobile advertising verticals in the third quarter
“We’re doubling down on the mobile advertising market and intend to be successful as a standalone company,” Mr. Palmieri said.
Banner year for networks
The Millennial Media announcement comes in the midst of hectic repositioning and rethinking among the key mobile ad networks.
However, the Millennial Media funding was not a kneejerk reaction to the Google-AdMob deal.
“We found a tremendous excitement for Millennial Media, in particular,” Mr. Palmieri said. “Start to end of our [fundraising] process was roughly eight weeks.”
In addition to Millennial Media and AdMob, the other brand-advertiser-focused network players include Yahoo, Google, Quattro Wireless and Microsoft, as well as Jumptap, AOL, Mojiva, Greystripe, InMobi and Nokia.
According to Nielsen data for September, Millennial Media reaches 80 percent of mobile Web users.
With its intention to buy AdMob, a specialist in mobile ads for iPhone sites and applications, search giant Google has proved that mobile is intricately linked to advertising’s future (see story).
News of the AdMob acquisition has forced most major online and mobile advertising players to reexamine their market strategies.
“Clearly, AdMob had always been Google’s real competition in the market,” Mr. Palmieri said. “AdMob had a strong business with performance advertisers and so does Google.
“Millennial Media has always been focused more on brand advertisers and we continue to maintain our substantial leadership in that space,” he said.
Related content: Ad networks, Paul Palmieri, Millennial Media, mobile ad networks, Google, AdMob, New Enterprise Associates, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, mobile
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Comments on "Mobile ad network Millennial Media raises $16M in new funding"
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Neel Kapoor says:
November 16, 2009 at 2:39pm
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editor mobiThinking says:
November 16, 2009 at 7:20am
It’s interesting to see that Millennial is taking investment, while AdMob sells out to Google. Makes you wonder if it tells us anything about the two networks’ different business models.
Obviously it’s just a coincidence that this announcement has come so quickly after the other, but what good timing: The AdMob/Google deal has thrust mobile ad networks into the spotlight, so it’s a wonderful time for other ad networks to steal a bit of the thunder.
If you want to know more about Millennial (or AdMob or any other ad network) may I suggest this guide to mobile ad networks: http://www.mobithinking.com/mobile-ad-network-guide
In addition to Millennial Media and AdMob, the other brand-advertiser-focused network players include Yahoo, Google, Quattro Wireless and Microsoft, as well as Jumptap, AOL, Mojiva, Crisp Wireless, Greystripe, InMobi and Nokia.
The article missed mentioning an under-the-radar player, AdLocal (www.adlocal.biz), that is a true location-based mobile advertising platform and offers a self-serve UI for both, advertisers and publishers.
They have done location-based mobile advertising in Japan very successfully (as Cirius Technologies - www.ciri.us); we are watching them very closely in the US market.