Mixpo Grabs Another $4M

Written by Ryan Lawler

Wednesday, February 4. 2009 at 09:25 AM EST Post a comment

Digg   Del.icio.us   Reddit   Email This

no ratings

• Login to Rate

In an effort to grow its platform for creating local and regional advertising, technology firm Mixpo yesterday announced a $4 million follow-on investment.

Mixpo received funds from lead investor Madrona Venture Group LLC , as well as Growthworks Capital Ltd. and Yaletown Venture Partners . The new round brings total financing to $10.5 million.

Founded in 2006, Mixpo has created a technology platform that enables advertisers to easily create and manage video ads to be served at the local level. With its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, Mixpo allows publishers to offer local advertisers the ability to create higher-value video ads that they might not be able to afford otherwise.

Just as importantly, the company provides robust reporting and analytics, so that advertisers can easily measure the level of engagement that consumers have with their ads.

Mixpo doesn't go after advertisers or agencies directly, leaving that work up to the direct sales forces of its publisher partners. Instead, it acts as an enabling technology, and gets paid on a revenue-share basis.

"It's a usage-based model, which removes some friction," Gupta says. "We make money when they make money."

The funding comes as Mixpo has gained serious traction with media groups that have large numbers of local advertisers. Just last month, the Seattle-based company announced several major customer wins, including NBC Local Media, Tribune, Freedom Communications, TownNews.com, and Fisher Communications. In September, it announced a win at Comcast's ad sales division, Comcast Spotlight, to serve ads in local markets.