Adfonic Raises $7.5 Million (€5.2m) to Drive Global Expansion

LONDON, September 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Company grows revenue ten-fold in last 12 months

Global mobile advertising marketplace Adfonic, announces it has raised an additional $7.5 million (€5.2m) in funding. The investment, made by Adfonic's existing investors, will support the company's continued growth in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, increasing headcount from 40 today to over 100 in 12 months' time. Gordon Shields, the leading telecoms entrepreneur and investor, is one of the major backers in this round of funding.

This latest round of investment follows a period of considerable growth for Adfonic which has seen the company grow revenues ten-fold over the last 12 months, increase its network of publisher sites and apps to more than 8,000 and drive monthly ad requests to over 15 billion. Thousands of campaigns are run across the network each month by leading brands such as Samsung, eBay, McDonalds, Tesco, Groupon and Google, reaching an estimated 100 million mobile unique users.

The investment will be used to support greater international expansion, further enhancements to the platform capabilities and recruitment across key business functions. Several new offices will be operational across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific by the end of 2011. The company will be making a series of hires across its advertising operations, product development, engineering and marketing functions. Continued investment in product development will further maximise advertiser and publisher performance.

Victor Malachard, CEO, Adfonic said: "This market is growing at a terrific pace and I'm delighted with the progress we've made over the last two years. This further round of investment will be used to consolidate our dominant position in the European market and to accelerate the tremendous momentum we have across the globe. We have a clear strategy for growth underpinned by further international expansion, recruitment across core functions and enhancements to our leading-edge platform."

Gordon Shields commented: "I have been an investor in Adfonic from day one and the expertise of the management team, the quality of the Adfonic offer and the growth potential of the market means the company is ideally placed to lead in this industry."

Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to reach $3.3 billion in 2011, more than double the $1.6 billion generated in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. In addition, worldwide revenue will reach $20.6 billion by 2015.

Table 1*
Mobile Advertising Revenue by Region, Worldwide, 2008-2015 (Millions of Dollars)

                              2010    2011     2015
    North America            304.3   701.7  5,791.4
    Western Europe           257.1   569.3  5,131.9
    Asia/Pacific and Japan   868.8 1,628.5  6,925.0
    Rest of the World        196.9   410.4  2,761.7
    Total                  1,627.1 3,309.9 20,610.0

Source: Gartner (June 2011)

*Gartner Press Release, June 16, 2011. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1726614