In-text ad co Kontera raises $15.5m

Kontera CEO Yoav Shaham and VP product Assaf Henkin founded the company in 2003.

23 July 09 15:52, Noa Parag

Israeli start-up Kontera Ltd. a developer of in-text advertising solutions for web publishers and advertisers, has raised $15.5 million from its current investors, Sequoia Capital, Carmel Ventures, and California-based Tenaya Capital, formerly the venture capital arm of Lehman Brothers. The present round brings the amount of capital raised by the company to $33.8 million.

Kontera CEO Yoav Shaham and VP product Assaf Henkin founded the company in 2003. The company's technology finds keywords which it links to the most appropriate information and advertisements by locating words in the websites of the participating companies and creating links to advertisers.

Kontera's business model is similar to the model of text-based advertising of Google Adsense. The rationale underpinning Kontera's product is that a user reading the text where the keyword is found is sometimes also looking for related products.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 23, 2009

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