Sequoia Invests in In-Text Advertising Market Leader Kontera

For those who haven't heard the news: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060425/lntu009.html?.v=2

Sequoia Invests in In-Text Advertising Market Leader Kontera
Tuesday April 25, 6:12 pm ET

Sequoia recognizes the market, technology, and business potential in Kontera that it saw in other Internet industry leaders in its portfolio including Google, Yahoo!, PayPal and Plaxo

SAN FRANCISCO, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Kontera, the leading developer of In-Text Advertising Solutions for web publishers and advertisers, announced today that it has secured its first round of institutional funding from Sequoia Capital.

Kontera's flagship product, ContentLink(TM), is based on patent-pending contextual analysis technology, which increases revenue and ROI for Web publishers and advertisers. ContentLink(TM) finds contextually relevant keywords on a publisher's web page in real-time and automatically matches them to relevant ads presented as In-Text sponsored keyword links. Kontera's proprietary In-Text Advertising technology enables web publishers to monetize untapped and incremental ad revenue while providing marketers with a solution that achieves improved ROI over other advertising vehicles because of the relevancy of the ad to the user's online experience and immediate frame of mind. For a demo of ContentLink(TM), click here: http://www.kontera.com/demo.aspx

Kontera's product family also includes the ContentLink(TM) Ad Center, a self-bidding solution for advertisers, and the ContentLink(TM) Private Ad Marketplace, a private label self-bidding solution for publishers and their own advertisers.

"By providing In-Text Advertising technology for the growing online content publishing market, Kontera is providing an innovative solution for monetizing the Internet and creating a new media property," said Haim Sadger, Partner, Sequoia Capital. "Sequoia Capital invested in Kontera because its ContentLink(TM) In-Text Advertising Solution provides online publishers and advertisers with a proven technology with a verified business model. ContentLink(TM) offers online publishers an opportunity to create incremental ad revenue from its existing content, complementing existing banner and pay- per-click advertising programs while solving current problems of ad inventory and web page real estate," added Sadger.

This investment will be used to accelerate the company's rapid growth, enhance product development and expand sales and marketing efforts. The company is also launching several affiliate and market-specific In-Text Advertising solutions in the coming months.

"With online publishers faced with real estate, inventory, and price limitations that hinder their ability to generate ad revenue, In-Text Advertising solutions like Kontera's ContentLink(TM) provide a serious advertising revenue stream for publishers while offering marketers a contextually relevant advertising vehicle," said Gary Stein, noted online advertising industry analyst. "I see exponential market growth for In-Text Advertising, and I believe technology-based solutions like Kontera's are best-positioned to take advantage of the tremendous market opportunity."

"With a track record of successful Internet investments which includes Yahoo!, PayPal and Google, we are thrilled that Sequoia Capital recognized our potential and selected to invest in Kontera, " said Yoav Shaham, CEO and founder of Kontera.

About Sequoia Capital

Since 1972, Sequoia Capital has provided startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs", Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Gaurav Garg of Redback Networks, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor, Lou Tomasetta of Vitesse Semiconductor, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Larry Ellison of Oracle. The companies organized by Sequoia Capital now account for about 10% of the value of NASDAQ. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit http://www.sequoiacap.com .

About Kontera

Kontera is a leading provider of In-Text Advertising Solutions, based on patent-pending contextual analysis technology that increases revenue and ROI for Web publishers and advertisers. The company's flagship product ContentLink(TM) finds contextually relevant keywords on a publisher's web page in real-time and automatically matches them with relevant ads presented as In- Text sponsored keyword links. Hundreds of online publishers worldwide are increasing their revenue through Kontera's service, which enables them to turn their content into a source of incremental revenue beyond current banner or text ads. Leading international advertisers in a broad range of product categories are achieving improved ROI with ContentLink(TM) versus other advertising vehicles because of the contextual relevancy of the ad to the user's interest. With seven years of experience in In-Text Advertising, Kontera is able to create a valuable experience for users by serving relevant and informational ads that match the user's interest and frame of mind. The company's technology facilitates real-time analysis of dynamic web content, enabling publishers to use ContentLink(TM) to serve ads with any online content type including user-generated content such as blogs, forums, product reviews and social networking sites. Kontera is a privately held company with offices in San Francisco and Israel. For more about Kontera, visit http://www.kontera.com .