It’s with great excitement that we introduce the 2010 OnMedia 100. This fresh batch of the hottest emerging companies in digital advertising joins illustrious alumni and gives us a great deal of insight into the coming trends in monetization. Last year was digital media’s trial by fire. Some online business models were forged in the flames; many more were burnt to a crisp. As we look out on 2010, we see a more hospitable landscape. Advertisers are increasingly selecting online surgical strikes over offline dynamite fishing. A fact to which 2010 OnMedia 100 winners Yieldex, Yield Software, and YieldBuild can happily attest.
The digital media industry has good reasons for its optimism. J.P. Morgan is projecting more than 10% growth in U.S. graphical advertising and more than 13% growth in U.S. search advertising, representing a marginal increase in spending of roughly $4.5 billion in the coming year. Many of these new dollars will be directed toward or by 2010 OnMedia 100 companies.
Given this backdrop of anticipated growth, it’s not surprising that we see so much activity among OnMedia 100 alumni. In the last year, billions of dollars in value have been created by recent OnMedia 100 winners, including Zynga’s eye-popping $180 million financing, Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob, and Apple’s $275 million acquisition of Quattro Wireless, as well as dozens of significant financings, including major rounds to alumni like Quantcast, Aggregate Knowledge, and Ensequence.
Venture investing in media and entertainment from Q4 2007 to Q3 2008 totaled $1.9 billion (according analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the NVCA). The same period during the following year saw this total drop precipitously to $1.2 billion. Clearly the flight to quality saw OnMedia 100 companies outperform in attracting growth equity.
We have every expectation that the class of 2010 will perform just as well as past winners in attracting customers, capital, and acquirers. Companies like ADVERTISING NETWORKS AND EXCHANGES winner MediaMath are letting advertising agencies more effectively leverage online channels on behalf of their clients. While HubSpot is the digital marketing command center for thousands of mid-market companies.
The explosion of local services has made small the new big. Winners like Yodle and Yext are bringing the full power of the Internet to bear on local merchants by finding the right recipe of cost effectiveness and ease of use. Our COMMUNITY PLATFORMS category winner, Gilt Groupe, has found the seam between tough economic times and demand for luxury products, letting its members find attractive merchandise at even more attractive prices—creating a new distribution channel to brand-conscious consumers.
Coremetrics leads our WEB AND MEDIA ANALYTICS AND RESEARCH winners and is rapidly establishing itself as the pre-eminent toolbox for online marketers. Services like GumGum for online content distribution, AdSafe Media for contextually appropriate advertising, and Lattice Engines for analysis and planning tools, are tackling specific challenges in online optimization and monetization.
While these new online services are polishing the Internet advertising apple, the mobile sector continues to be an increasingly wild, wild west. Fueled by the rapidly escalating thumbs-race between giants like Apple, Google, Nokia, RIM, and Microsoft, the stage is set for tremendous innovation in the private company community (and impressive returns for private capital).
Our overall winner for the 2010 OnMedia 100, Millennial Media, has positioned itself as one of the leading mobile advertising networks. With competitors (and previous OnMedia 100 winners) AdMob and Quattro Wireless acquired by Google and Apple respectively, and armed with a recent round of financing, the company is clearly capitalizing on its already impressive position.
The 2010 OnMedia 100 winners have survived the upheaval of 2009 and are positioned to advance on the opportunities represented by the return to growth in the digital advertising sector. Congratulations—it looks like we made it.
The OnMedia 100
Overall Winner: MILLENNIAL MEDIA
Company Name: Millennial Media
Category: Mobile Marketing & Advertising
URL: www.millennialmedia.com
Headquarters: Baltimore, MD
CEO: Paul Palmieri
Year Founded: 2006
Employees: > 60
Investors Include: Charles Rivers Ventures, Columbia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Acta Wireless, NEA
ADVERTISING NETWORKS AND EXCHANGES
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: MediaMath
URL: www.mediamath.com
Headquarters: New York, NY
CEO: Joseph Zawadzki
Year Founded: 2007
Employees: 75
Investors Include: Safeguard Scientifics, QED Investors, SJF Ventures, European Founders Fund
Adchemy
Redwood City, CA
Admeld
New York, NY
AdSide
New York, NY
AppNexus
New York, NY
AudienceScience
Bellevue, WA
BlueKai
Bellevue, WA
BrightRoll
San Francisco, CA
Collective
New York, NY
Invite Media
Philadelphia, PA
JiWire
San Francisco, CA
Mpire
Seattle, WA
PerformLine
New York, NY
Pontiflex
New York, NY
Reply!
San Ramon, CA
Rocket Fuel
Redwood City, CA
Simulmedia
New York, NY
Yieldex
San Mateo, CA
Yodle
New York, NY
ADVERTISING SERVICE PROVIDERS
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: Brand Affinity Technologies
URL: www.brandaffinity.net
Headquarters: Irvine, CA
CEO: Ryan Steelberg
Year Founded: 2007
Employees: ca. 25
Investors Include: The Netherland's Ad Pepper Media International NV, Newport Coast Investments
33Across
New York, NY
Adgregate Markets
Sausalito, CA
Context Optional
San Francisco, CA
Covario
San Diego, CA
FreeWheel
San Mateo, CA
Operative
New York, NY
PaperG
New Haven, CT
Peer39
New York, NY
Spongecell
San Francisco, CA
Tumri
San Mateo, CA
WrapMail
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Zadspace
El Segundo, CA
COMMUNITY PLATFORMS
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: Gilt Groupe
URL: www.gilt.com
Headquarters: New York, NY
CEO: Susan Lyne
Year Founded: 2007
Employees: ca. 200
Investors Include: Matrix Partners, General Atlantic, Matrix Partners
BiddingForGood
Cambridge, MA
Imagini
London, U.K.
IMShopping
Santa Clara, CA
kajeet
Bethesda, MD
Live Gamer
New York, NY
PlaySpan Marketplace
Santa Clara, CA
Unisfair
Menlo Park, CA
Viewpoints Network
Chicago, IL
Viximo
Cambridge, MA
Weplay
New York, NY
DIGITAL PUBLISHERS
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: MUZU TV
URL: www.muzu.tv
Headquarters: Dublin, Eire
CEO: Ciaran Bollard
Year Founded: 2006
Employees: ca. 30
Investors Include: Oyster Technology Investments
Arkadium
New York, NY
eRepublik Labs
Madrid, Spain
HopStop
New York, NY
ON Networks
Austin, TX
RoofTop Media
San Francisco, CA
Turbine
Westwood, MA
Yext
New York, NY
ZillionTV
Sunnyvale, CA
MOBILE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: Mobixell Networks
URL: www.mobixell.com
Headquarters: Cupertino, CA
CEO: Amir Aharoni
Year Founded: 2000
Employees: 140
Investors Include: Intel Capital, Apax Partners, Smac Partners, Comverse
Hipcricket
Kirkland, WA
MobileCause
Los Angeles, CA
PointAbout
Washington DC
Transpera
San Francisco, CA
Zoove
Palo Alto, CA
NEXT-GENERATION SEARCH
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: Redlasso
URL: www.redlasso.com
Headquarters: King of Prussia, PA
CEO: Al McGowan
Year Founded: 2006
Employees: 10
Investors Include: Anthem Capital Management, Guggenheim Opportunity Fund, Osage Ventures
Altruik
New York, NY
Clicker
Los Angeles, CA
Eventful
San Diego, CA
Goby
Boston, MA
Marin Software
San Francisco, CA
RAMP
Woburn, MA
uLocate Communications
Framingham, MA
TECHNOLOGY ENABLERS
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: Mercent
URL: www.mercent.com
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
CEO: Eric Best
Year Founded: 2005
Employees: ca. 50
Investors Include: Madrona Venture Group, The Hillman Company, TVC Capital
Black Arrow
San Mateo, CA
Conduit
San Mateo, CA
Critical Media
New York, NY
DoubleVerify
New York, NY
Hoodlum
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
HubSpot
Cambridge, MA
ion interactive
Boca Raton, FL
JanRain
Portland, OR
LongTail Video
New York, NY
Marketo
San Mateo, CA
MyPRGenie
New York, NY
ORCA
New York, NY
Pyxis Mobile
Waltham, MA
Rhiza Labs
Pittsburgh, PA
Skyhook Wireless
Boston, MA
Twones
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Vidyo
Hackensack, NJ
WhereverTV
Pittsburgh, PA
WhichBox Media
Dallas, TX
WideOrbit
San Francisco, CA
Yield Software
San Mateo, CA
YieldBuild
San Francisco, CA
WEB AND MEDIA ANALYTICS AND RESEARCH
CATEGORY WINNER
Company Name: Coremetrics
URL: www.coremetrics.com
Headquarters: San Mateo, CA
CEO: Joe Davis
Year Founded: 1999
Employees: ca. 250
Investors Include: Accel Partners, FTV Capital, Highland Capital Partners, W Capital Partners, 3i Group, TransCosmos
Ace Metrix
Los Angeles, CA
AdSafe Media
New York, NY
Affective Interfaces
San Rafael, CA
Aperture
New York, NY
Causata
San Francisco, CA
GumGum
Santa Monica, CA
Lattice Engines
San Mateo, CA
Quantcast
San Francisco, CA
SeeWhy
Andover, MA
