Enterprise Leads $10 Million Series A Round for SpecificMEDIA

Sent on June 12, 2006

Carl Eibl, managing director of Enterprise Partners, announced that Enterprise Partners has led a $10 million Series A round with SpecificMEDIA, an online media network and audience targeting company based in Irvine, California.

The funding will be used to expand marketing and sales efforts, including the addition of sales offices in key U.S. media markets and to further deploy SpecificMEDIA's user targeting technologies.

This financing follows a period of remarkable growth for the company. During the past twelve months, SpecificMEDIA achieved a 500% increase in the number of advertisers it services and exceeded 90% retention rates. The company currently serves hundreds of clients each month and is profitable.

SpecificMEDIA, founded in 1999, enables advertisers to target audiences through advanced demographic, behavioral, contextual, geographic and retargeting technologies across a network of premium, name brand websites. "SpecificMEDIA has always been a technology innovator and continues to break new ground by enabling advertisers to target online audiences versus the traditional method of targeting content. Our technology platform is unparalleled in the industry, and our ability to target every user demographically, behaviorally, contextually, and geographically separates us from other ad networks. In order to continue our technology development and fast track our expansion plans, we are extremely pleased to partner with Enterprise Partners Venture Capital and Shepherd Ventures," commented CEO and co-founder Tim Vanderhook.

Carl Eibl, managing director of lead investor Enterprise Partners said, "SpecificMEDIA presents a compelling investment opportunity given their unique approach to online advertising and profitable business model. Internet advertising is seeing explosive growth with nearly $4B of spend in Q1'06 alone. We're confident that SpecificMEDIA is well positioned to capitalize on this growth."

Enterprise Forum

E.F. Recently, Enterprise has invested in several digital media and content related companies. Is this a trend?

C.E. Technology companies have always been key to our portfolio. Right now, we see a huge market in companies that provide content, enable content or make content business models viable, hence our investments in Muze and vMix. So, it's not so much a trend as it is a demonstration of where Enterprise sees potential. We make a point of investing in the very best deals out there.

E.F. There are a lot of Internet 2.0 business plans floating around... what attracted you to SpecificMEDIA?

C.E. Tim and Chris, the co-founders. These guys started the company in late 1999- possibly the worst time in recent history to start an Internet business. They built a real business, with an impressive customer base, that was cash flow positive from the get-go. They have cutting edge technology, but they have grown their business the old fashioned way-by earning customer loyalty through results. That takes grit and we like that.

E.F. Digital media, Internet content...these are new areas for Enterprise. Why did you choose these sectors for where you're placing your bets?

C.E. Enterprise has been investing for over 20 years. We are currently investing our 6th fund. So we've learned a bit about reading the wind and tacking when it makes sense. We've always felt comfortable in two broad areas: technology and life sciences. So, in a way, not much has changed. It's just the technology where we currently see the potential for venture returns is less in networks and "iron" and large enterprise systems- and more in agile, consumer-centric mass market businesses.

About Specific Media


SpecificMEDIA is an innovative technology and online media company that enables advertisers to pinpoint their target audiences through advanced demographic, behavioral, contextual, geographic and retargeting technologies across a network of branded, top tier sites. Web sites in the SpecificMEDIA network reach nearly 80 million U.S. monthly unique users and include more than 450 premier brands such as: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN, Major League Baseball, Sportsline.com, The Weather Channel, USA Today and VIACOM. For additional information, visit www.specificmedia.com.

Enterprise Partners was founded in 1985 and is the largest venture firm headquartered in Southern California, with over $1.1 billion in capital under management. Enterprise focuses on seed, early stage and promising later stage companies across a broad spectrum of technologies and the life sciences. The firm is currently investing its sixth fund and is headquartered in San Diego. www.epvc.com