Lotame Raises $13 Million Series B for Social Networking Advertising

Lotame has announced that they have raised $13 million in a Series B round of funding. Emergence Capital Partners, led the round with support from previous investors Battery Ventures and Hillcrest Management. Lotame notes that the new funding will be used to support product enhancements, marketing and business development efforts.

Lotame offers engagement advertising instead of the traditional online advertising. Sites using Lotame report user and usage data back to Lotame which in-turn Lotame uses to find advertisers to match the users and the social networking site engagement. We've seen lots of chatter about engagement advertising and getting away from ad buys based solely on raw numbers. This type of online advertising typically pays more because the advertiser is getting closer to the actual intended customer instead of blasting a message to everyone on the network.

Don over at Mashable has a lengthy look at Lotame. He notes, "I can’t fault Lotame’s intent on innovation.  For the first time, advertisers can capture real data in real-time for a specific demographic that they really want to target.  And although Lotame would be best-served working with larger organizations, it thinks it has found its niche and as it continues to grow, will continue to create a value proposition for advertisers that want to capitalize on the social networking space."

I am always excited to see companies challenge the current online advertising model and over-time it can help move the advertising conversation forward.