Posts Tagged ‘rubicon-project’
The Rubicon Project Buys Malware Security Company SiteScout
Los Angeles-based digital advertising company The Rubicon Project this morning announced that it has acquired SiteScout, a four-year-old security technology company based in Seattle.
SiteScout essentially helps online publishers protect their Web sites from malicious advertising (malvertising), and The Rubicon Project can use their technology to ramp up the security layer of its REVV for publishers platform.
A purchase price was not disclosed.
Rob Lipschutz, CEO of SiteScout, will henceforth be tasked with leading the Rubicon Project’s Brand Protection offering. The SiteScout malware reporting and other product tools are slated to be available within the Rubicon Project’s REVV platform in the third quarter of 2010.
In addition, the Rubicon Project will open a Seattle office. The company had earlier bought Seattle-based digital advertising startup Others Online for an undisclosed sum.
The Rubicon Project launched in 2007 with a mission to “automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry”. The company is backed by $42 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, IDG Ventures and GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund, and claims it is currently optimizing more than 45 billion ads each month, reaching more than 500 million unique users in total.
Former AOL, Experian Executives Join Rubicon Project
Digital advertising company Rubicon Project has landed a pair of Internet marketing vets in an effort to broaden its management team with experienced executives.
The LA-based company has hired Ben Trenda, formerly VP of Global Partnerships at AOL, as Vice President of U.S. Demand and Eric Matza, former Vice President of Product Management at Experian, as Director of Product Marketing.
Former Product Marketing and Brand Development Director at Rubicon Project, Marwan Soghaier, meanwhile has moved on to become the new VP of Marketing and Product at online and mobile marketing firm mobileStorm.
At Rubicon Project, Ben Trenda will be in charge of relationships with ad networks and other third-party sales channel partners to ensure they have access to targeted premium inventory and audience segments. He has quite a bit of experience under his belt: prior to AOL, Trenda led a West Coast sales team for Advertising.com, and before that he held roles in the Strategic Alliances group at Yahoo and before that, in sales at Overture and GoTo.
Two things are worth noting: this isn’t the first AOL exec to make the switch to Rubicon Project: the company recently appointed AOL / Platform A vet Oli Whitten to oversee and develop relationships with online advertising networks across Europe. AOL also partners with Rubicon Project in continental Europe.
Eric Matza, who also worked at Yahoo as manager of targeting infrastructure initiatives for display advertising and email marketing, will be responsible for bringing new advertising technology and data products developed by Rubicon Project to market.
The Rubicon Project launched its ‘network of ad networks’ in 2007, and envisions ‘automating the $65 billion global online advertising industry’. The company has raised $42 million in funding the likes of Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, IDG Ventures and GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund. Among its clients are big names like NBC Universal, Gannett and CareerBuilder, and the company claims to optimize more than 45 billion ads each month, reaching 500 million unique Internet users.
The company recently outlined its strategy going forward, and apparently its proposition is attractive enough to be able to recruit some serious talent.
Sean Moriarty, Rajeev Chawla Join Mayfield Fund As Entrepreneurs-In-Residence
Menlo Park, CA-based Mayfield Fund, founded over 40 years ago, has officially announced the expansion of its team with two noteworthy Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs): Sean Moriarty and Rajeev Chawla.
Moriarty is the former CEO and President of Ticketmaster who recently joined Eventbrite as a director. He also served on the boards of iLike (acquired by MySpace last year) and Points.com.
Prior to Ticketmaster, Sean was part of the technology team at Citysearch, where his roles included Executive Vice President of Technology and Vice President of Internet Systems.
Rajeev Chawla founded and is the former President & CEO of NeoPath Networks, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in March 2007.
Mayfield Fund’s portfolio includes companies like Rubicon Project, BigDeal, Gigya, and Jaxtr. The firm has over $2.8 billion under management.