NY ad company Intent Media, which specializes in advertising products for the travel industry, has raised $22.7 million in new funding.
Ads based on real-time intent
As any art directors or account managers who visit these pages will be aware, we like to focus on up-and-coming online advertising agencies and other fledgling firms much of the time here. But sometimes, it’s good to see how a more established company is doing. And Intent Media, by all accounts, has been doing extraordinarily well.
The Series C round (led by New York’s Insight Venture Partners) brings the company’s total funding since its 2009 launch to $51 million. Investors, it would seem, are more than impressed by Intent’s performance. Its technology, which measures potential consumers’ “real-time intent” on the basis of their browsing behavior and then sends ads based on each individual visitor, has attracted a glittering client list. Names include Expedia, Hotwire, Travelocity, ebookers.com, lastminute.com, Hotel Club, Travelport, Hipmunk, Cheap Tickets and Orbitz.
Even the most seasoned and unruffled account manager would have to concede that that adds up to a prestigious and enviable batch of accounts. Real-time consumer intent tracking has clearly got legs, and Intent Media has established a reputation as a market leader in the approach amongst travel companies.
In a statement, the company’s CEO, Richard Harris, said:
“2014 has been an exceptional year for Intent Media. Year-over-year, our revenue has tripled, and we’re expanding our publisher and advertiser partnerships domestically and internationally. We have a unique proposition — that risk-mitigated advertising enables travel retailers to generate more money from their visitors– and it’s clearly resonating in the market. Insight Venture Partners has deep experience in our space and will help us scale the business globally.”
Growth and development
The new money will, amongst other things, be ploughed into accelerating the firm’s global expansion. It launched in Europe earlier this year and is shortly to open a London office, aiming to build its advertiser and partner base across all the major European markets. It’s also planning to recruit an additional batch of “technology obsessed” engineers to expand its “freakishly talented” development group, as well as launching innovative new products.
And if that hasn’t induced a twinge of envy in our account manager, the firm’s plans to diversify into other ecommerce categories as well just might.