Content discovery platform Outbrain has closed a $35 million Series D round of funding led by Index Ventures with participation from existing investors Carmel Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. This more than doubles the company’s total financing to $64 million.
In related news, Index Ventures partner Dominique Vidal will be joining Outbrain’s board of directors. Vidal’s previous experience includes chief executive officer of Yahoo Europe and founder of Kelkoo.
Outbrain’s proprietary algorithms combine audience, contextual and social data in order to make personalized recommendations for each individual viewer, resulting in suggestions for what to read next that appear on its client’s websites. According to the company, these are seen by more than 3.5 billion times each month and generate over 200 million monthly click-throughs.
Outbrain’s global publisher roster includes CNN, Fox News, Future Publishing, Hearst, Hachette Filipacchi Media, Trinity Mirror and Ziff Davis. Outbrain also works with several brands and agencies including Digitas, Mindshare, P&G, Allstate and American Express.
“Outbrain presents a solution to a problem that online media has been facing since the Internet brought content to the web. Their continued success and vision makes the company an attractive addition to Index’s portfolio,” Vidal said. “It is clear that the company mission to help users discover great content is their top priority, which is why Outbrain has cultivated a leading position in the market.”
Yaron Galai, chief executive officer and co-founder at Outbrain, noted that during 2011 the company has acquired Surphace, opened offices in London, France and Germany, and rolled out Outbrain for Mobile and Outbrain for Video.
Related links:
Outbrain’s blog post – http://tinyurl.com/6uq8dvu
Photo by Flickr user Gregory Moine, used under Creative Commons license
