Mobile local ad network xAd has received a $4 million expansion capital round of funding from venture capitalist firm Emergence Capital Partners.

The already profitable local mobile ad network will use this additional capital to expand its technology platform, scale its management team and increase its footprint in the local mobile advertising and search sectors. As part of the funding round, Jason Green, partner of Emergence Capital, will join the company?s board of directors.

?Currently, we are focused on maintaining our lead position in mobile advertising by growing our base of distribution partners?publishers, brands and app developers?to have the greatest reach and scale for advertisers to launch mobile local search campaigns,? said Craig Hagopian, chief marketing officer of xAd, San Francisco.

?We want to continue to grow and maintain the largest base of search, mapping and navigation partners,? he said.

XAd claims that its patented mobile optimization technology identifies who, what and where an end user is and serves the most relevant click, check-in or call-based advertising.

Emergence Capital Partners has also invested in brands such as Salesforce.com, aQuantive and Doubleclick.

Mobile local advertising is booming
U.S. local mobile advertising is estimated to be a $213 million market, and is expected to exceed $2.025 billion by 2014, according to the Kelsey Group.

Nearly half of all revenue projected for mobile advertising is expected to come from the local sector.

Yet unlike the in-application and mobile-display businesses, local mobile advertising has yet to take off, leaving the market still untapped, per xAd.

BIA/Kelsey Group data indicates that mobile ad inventory has greater value and performance when tied to location.

The xAd team has developed a variety of mobile search algorithms and has applied this knowledge to the local mobile market.

The xAd?s platform has more than 1 million local and national performance-based advertisers.

XAd, which claims that it is growing at a rate of 20 percent each month, will use the investment to expand its technology platform.

?XAd sees mobile advertising as in the very early stages currently, but growing rapidly as smartphones, affordable data services and open app stores drive user adoption,? Mr. Hagopian said.

?Those who get in early with xAd are enjoying click-through rates 8 to 10 times higher than traditional desktop ads,? he said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Marketer

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