Video ad network Tremor snaps up funds from SAP
Tremor Media, the large online video advertising network, announced that it brought in an undisclosed amount from SAP Ventures, SAP’s investment arm, among others, in a strategic round of funding. According to the regulatory filing with the SEC, Tremor recently increased the round by $2 million. It plans to use the money to continue building out its offerings.
The New York company is known for its Acudeo video monetization system. It says the alliance with SAP will allow Tremor to run advertisements for the major software company’s products in both the U.S. and Europe. This is the second major financing victory this year for the ad network, which just six months ago raised $18 million in a third round of funding (whether or not the new $2 million is an extension of this round, bringing its total to $20 million has yet to be confirmed). On top of that, it signed a deal with comScore at the beginning of February to provide gross rating points for its online videos, just like TV commercials.
comScore anointed Tremor the leading video ad network in March, placing it above competitors like BrightRoll, YuMe, Platform-A and Broadband Enterprises. Today, it pinpoints its traffic at 137 million unique monthly viewers. It also just launched a new family of ad formats under the banner vChoice. Rooted in the Acudeo platform — now used by about 900 clients — vChoice ads are said to be more interactive.
This is pretty good news considering the company’s co-founders departed at the beginning of the month to work on a new venture. Chief operating officer Andrew Reis has remained on the board of directors, and chief strategy officer Jesse Chenard has been retained as a strategic advisor. The news has been spun positively, with no real evidence that the duo left for less enterprising reasons. The company has also used it as a jumping off point to reorganize its management team.
Tremor has raised upwards of $40 million in venture financing to date from backers including Meritech Capital Partners, Canaan Partners, Masthead Venture Partners and European Founders Fund.
Next Story: Salesforce’s reseller program brings the middleman back into cloud computing
Previous Story: Financial planning site Green Sherpa launches, tries to nip at Mint’s heels
About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.