NEW YORK and WAYNE, N.Y., Aug. 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Sonobi, an advertising technology company known primarily for its publisher-focused technology and services, today announced that it raised $10.4 million in financing. The funding includes $5.4 million in Series A equity from Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE). The proceeds will be used to expand Sonobi's operational infrastructure, with a direct focus on its product, engineering, marketing and sales efforts as the company broadens the scope of its digital advertising platform beyond a publisher-only focus.
Funding received is attributed to Sonobi's vision for defining a new standard in digital advertising forecasting and delivery by establishing a single comprehensive source for publishers, media agencies, and advertiser brands to connect directly to the market and their advertising partners. Sonobi's expanded platform offers the ability for publishers to extend a proprietary header-based platform integration and comprehensive forecasting tools across any advertising media, direct or indirect. It also allows buyers to leverage Sonobi's forecasting technology and offers the ability to use advertiser data management platform ("DMP") and customer relationship management ("CRM") data to plan campaigns directly on platform. It delivers complete control for buyers and sellers alike to proactively propose and negotiate--across guaranteed, private marketplace and open market--and to traffic advertising one person at a time, ensuring delivery of the most effective brand-to-consumer advertising experiences.
As Sonobi looks to engage the market with its expanded offering, several key leadership hires have been made to drive further development and accelerate platform adoption in market. Tony Katsur, former Head of Buyer Cloud at Rubicon Project, has joined Sonobi as President, and Paul Wenz, former General Manager at Rocket Fuel, has joined as Chief Revenue Officer. Principals John Donahue and Bill Callahan of WLxJS, a boutique brand and media strategy agency acquired by Sonobi, have also joined as Chief Product Officer and EVP of Brand and Marketing, respectively.
"Advertising is, and will remain, one of the largest markets in the world, and the industry continues to undergo massive technological disruption," said Mark Mitchell, Principal, Technology at Safeguard, who joined Sonobi's board of directors. "The market for premium online advertising is expected to grow to $43 billion in coming years and has yet to fully realize the benefits of programmatic technology. Sonobi is well positioned as a market maker for this important advertising segment, with visionary technology, key synergistic partnerships, a high-quality publisher base and a very strong pipeline. We welcome Sonobi to our strong group of advertising technology partner companies and believe that the company has tremendous opportunity to capitalize on the premium online advertising market."
"Sonobi is the first advertising technology company to bridge the gap between today's technology and the needs of a changing market," said Michael Connolly, Chief Executive Officer of Sonobi. "Holistic media planning, opportunity forecasting and guaranteed execution are largely absent from programmatic buying and selling. Advancements in our product along with acquisition of funds from a respected source like Safeguard, and the expansion of our team with seasoned industry veterans, validates our growth and makes us very excited about the opportunity that lies ahead for Sonobi and our partners."
About Sonobi
Sonobi is an advertising technology developer that offers better ways for publishers, media agencies and advertiser brands to drive results and achieve business goals--through user-centric technology and intelligent data--creating more effective advertising and better connections between people and brands. Since 2011, Sonobi has been helping clients and strategic partners from across digital advertising forecast new market opportunity, enhance value delivery to clients, and create more profitable businesses. For more information please visit http://www.sonobi.com.
About Safeguard Scientifics
Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders. For six decades, Safeguard has been providing growth capital and operational support to entrepreneurs across an evolving spectrum of industries. Today, Safeguard is focused specifically on two sectors--healthcare and technology. Specifically, Safeguard targets early- and growth-stage companies in advertising technology, digital media, financial technology, enterprise software, Internet of Things, devices, diagnostics, digital health and healthcare IT. For more information, please visit http://www.safeguard.com or follow us on Twitter @safeguard.
Forward-looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, our ability to make good decisions about the deployment of capital, the fact that our partner companies may vary from period to period, our substantial capital requirements and absence of liquidity from our partner company holdings, fluctuations in the market prices of our publicly traded partner company holdings, competition, our inability to obtain maximum value for our partner company holdings, our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, market valuations in sectors in which our partner companies operate, our inability to control our partner companies, our need to manage our assets to avoid registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and risks associated with our partner companies, including the fact that most of our partner companies have a limited history and a history of operating losses, face intense competition and may never be profitable, the effect of economic conditions in the business sectors in which Safeguard's partner companies operate, and other uncertainties described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control. As a result of these and other factors, the Company's past financial performance should not be relied on as an indication of future performance. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or other information contained in this press release.
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