European VCs smell billion dollar exits with $80m C round
Following the acquisition of aQuantive by Microsoft, DoubleClick by Google and 24/7 by WPP, Wellington portfolio company Adconion has advanced to become one of the largest independent advertising networks worldwide. Wellington Partners was the first venture capital firm to invest in Adconion at the beginning of 2007 and is now participating in this largest European online media venture round in history, an US$ 80 million series C round led by Index Ventures.
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Adconion Media Group, Munich, one of the world’s fastest growing online advertising networks, has announced a £40.9 million (US$80 million) series C round of venture funding.
The investment was led by Index Ventures, who were joined by existing investor Wellington Partners, and represents the first investment made from Index’s recently announced growth fund. The capital will be used to continue expansion into Europe, US and Asia, strengthening the company’s position as an independent player. In addition, capital will be invested in Adconion’s behavioural targeting technology and also to fund selected acquisitions. Index partners’ Dominique Vidal, former CEO of Yahoo! Europe, and Giuseppe Zocco, the firm’s co-founder, will join Adconion’s board of directors.
“Adconion has the relationships, the expertise and the best in class technology becoming of a future market-leader in technology’s hottest growth sector,” says Dom Vidal of Index Ventures. “Our experience as investors in the advertising space enables us to support Adconion in continuing its rapid expansion throughout Europe and North America and to further build its global presence. As online media becomes more fragmented and as agencies look for more independent partners for solutions, we believe ad networks like Adconion are perfectly positioned to capture more advertising spend.”
“At the risk of sounding clichéd, the modern business landscape is irrefutably global in scale and that is due primarily to the opportunities created by the Internet,” says Adconion founder and CEO Tyler 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 substantial investment from Index and Wellington will position Adconion alongside the portals on marketer’s short-lists for global distribution partners.”
“Tyler and his team have done an outstanding job building a truly global online advertising network,” says Frank Boehnke of 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.”
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28 FEB 2008 |
