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30 
| 
ALWAYSON
 |ONMEDIA NYC 2009
 The 2009
OnMedia 100
 Top Private Companies
petitors stumble, and their customers realize their value. Webelieve we've identifed many o these diamonds-in-the-makingin the 2009 OnMedia
100
list.Our overall winner, The Rubicon Project, is the right solutionat the right time or the current market environment. Its serviceincreases the efciency o the advertising market by optimizingthe matching o remnant ads (which oten makeup 80% or even 90% o a publisher's ad inventory)to available placement opportunities. With morethan 1,300 publishers and 350 ad networks, Rubiconcan dynamically put the right ad in the right placein ront o the right person at the right time—which in the end, is better or the publisher, theadvertiser, and ultimately the consumer.Adap.tv, another o our category winners, isbringing the same kind o innovation and ef-ciency to online video. Its service is enabling thecreative display o advertising in online video, moving beyondsimple (and oten annoying) pre- and post-roll video ads.Our analytics category winner, Quantcast, is rapidly estab-lishing itsel as the new benchmark in Web analytics throughits sophisticated audience measurement tools and sel-reportingbased approach. Newcomers like NuConomy are stretchingbeyond simple statistical analysis and seeking to provide insightinto deeper questions o engagement and contribution.Companies like Zynga and Ensequence are giving advertisersengaging new channels or reaching their audiences by addingdimensions to existing platorms, like social networks (Zynga)and television (Ensequence) to create highly interactive experi-ences.2009 is undoubtedly going to be a pivotal year or many o thecompanies on this year's OnMedia
100
, but we're confdent thator many, the current pressure will shape their ideas and ocustheir strategies. Keep an eye out or a shower o diamonds.
Ezra Roizen
is an
AlwaysOn
contributing editor and partner with Ackrell Capital, where he advises emerging digital media ande-commerce companies on fnancing, M&A, and strategy.
 
 W
e are pleased to announce our third OnMedia
100
list o the top private companies in onlinemarketing. The 2009 list presented a newchallenge or the editorial team, namely spot-ting the companies that embrace the currentmarket pressures and crystallize into diamonds—amongst themany more that will be turned to dust.The winners rom this year's list will likely lookback on this time as their ormative—albeit chal-lenging—adolescence; a time when even thoughthey had to sharpen their game to win deals, theywere also met with a market hungry or their ef-ciencies and insights.Given the worst economic environment in his-tory o the list, the context o our 2009 selectionprocess was a variation o past eorts. The contexto our frst list in 2007 was "New Tools or the NewMarketer" and comprised a survey o new platorms and servicesrom those looking to supercharge their online marketing pro-grams.Given the newness o the market (and companies) and thedegree o similarity between many o the oerings, choosingour 2007 and 2008 lists was like fnding needles in haystacks. Wespotted some all-star perormers, such as Blue Lithium (acquiredby Yahoo), Quigo (acquired by AOL), and Adiy (acquired byCox). Over the course o just two prior OnMedia 100 lists, weidentifed numerous companies prior to their exits, transactionsthat, in aggregate, have returned value to their investors mea-sured in the billions.While the online advertising numerator is still expanding(modestly), the denominator has expanded much more quickly.Even though Citi orecasts U.S. online advertising to grow by4% in 2009 to $25 billion (compared with a 7% drop in total U.S.advertising), the number o companies and amount o inventoryover which this money can be spread is large. As things stand,there are too many mouths or too little bread.The truly great ideas being executed by great teams shouldfnd these turbulent times a blessing in disguise as their com-
Market pressure generates opportunity for online advertising.
OnMedia
100
09
— WINNER —
 
ONMEDIA NYC 2009| 
ALWAYSON
 | 
31
INveStOrS INcLude:
Clearstone Venture Partners, MayeldFund, Stanord University, University o Caliornia Berkeley, IDGVentures Vietnam, Square 1 Bank
AO tAke:
For many web publishers, the sheer number o adnetworks—more than 400, both large and small—is provingmore o a liability than a benet, leaving rustrated advertisersand
lots
o unsold ad space. The Rubicon Project oers asimple, ecient way or publishers to organize and optimizeonline advertising initiatives. Its technology is designed tohelp publishers make more money rom unsold ad inventory,eliminate the headache o ad network management, andprotect their brands.Rubicon's core product takes the orm o a dashboard thatmanages companies’ ad campaigns and optimizes themacross ad networks such as Google, Yahoo, Tacoda, AdBrite,and so on. The dashboard breaks down inventory into micro-segments by geography, demographics, and context. Then,Rubicon dynamically places the ads in the right place at theright time in ront o the right person.According to the company, it serves around 1,300customers (including big publishers such as the
WashingtonPost, Newsweek,
American Greetings
 , USA Today,
andBabycenter) and is optimizing more than 15 billion ads eachmonth across 300 ad networks. These ads, in turn, reachmore than 240 million unique Internet users, and Rubicon isreporting revenue increases ranging rom 30% to 300% or itscustomers.The company has strong backing—$21 million in tworounds—including heavyweights Clearstone VenturePartners, IDG Ventures Asia, and Mayeld Fund, amongothers. While the Rubicon Project is essentially a middleman(standing between publishers on one side and ad networksand advertisers on the other), its existence is indicative o theragmentation and ineciency o the entire online advertisingmarket. While online advertising exchanges, such asContextWeb's ADSDAQ and Microsot’s AdECN, may emergemore strongly in the uture, it's clear that useul, tightsolutions such as the Rubicon Project's are what publishersand advertisers want right now.
 The Rubicon PRojecT
www.rubiconproject.com
HQ:
Los Angeles, CA
ceO:
Frank Addante
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
> 25
Overall Winner 
OnMedia 100
Category
CommunityPlatforms
myyeaRbook
www.myyearbook.com
HQ:
New Hope, PA
ceO:
Geo Cook
FOuNded:
2005
eMpLOYeeS:
< 25
INveStOrS INcLude:
Norwest VenturePartners, US Venture Partners, First RoundCapital
Live GameR
www.livegamer.com
HQ:
New York, NY
preSIdeNt:
Andrew Schneider
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 35
INveStOrS INcLude:
Charles River Ventures,Kodiak Venture Partners, Pequot Ventures,FirstMark Capital
maLL neTwoRks
www.mallnetworks.com
HQ:
Burlingame, CA
ceO:
Dave Andre
FOuNded:
2005
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Flybridge Capital,Venture Capital Fund o New England, DaceVentures
meebo
www.meebo.com
HQ:
Mountain View, CA
ceO:
Seth Sternberg
FOuNded:
2005
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 40
INveStOrS INcLude:
Sequoia Capital,Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Jaco Ventures,KTB Ventures, Time Warner Investments
ouTside.in
www.outside.in
HQ:
Brooklyn, NY
ceO:
Mark Josephson
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
15
INveStOrS INcLude:
Union Square Ventures,Milestone Venture Partners, Betaworks,New York City Investment Fund
owneRiQ
www.owneriq.net 
HQ:
Boston, MA
ceO:
Jay Habegger
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
> 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
Atlas Venture,Massachusetts Technology DevelopmentCorporation, Common Angels, Egan-Managed Capital
RefRame iT
www.reframeit.com
HQ:
San Francisco, CA
ceO:
Bobby Fishkin
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Angels
2009OnMedia100
categoryWinner
2009OnMedia100
OverallWinner
Frank Addante,CEO of The Rubicon Project
 
32 
| 
ALWAYSON
 |ONMEDIA NYC 2009
saysme
www.saysme.tv 
HQ:
Venice, CA
ceO:
Lisa Eisenpresser
FOuNded:
2008
eMpLOYeeS:
10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Intel Capital, PrimeCapital, Katalyst Media
shoPfLick
www.shopflick.com
HQ:
Los Angeles, CA
ceO:
David Grant
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
> 15
INveStOrS INcLude:
Panorama Capital,Venrock
shoPiT
www.shopit.com
HQ:
Los Angeles, CA
ceO:
Matt Hill
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
> 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
Propulsion Ventures,Emerson Ventures
sPicewoRks
www.spiceworks.com
HQ:
Austin, TX
ceO:
Scott Abel
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 35
INveStOrS INcLude:
Austin Ventures,Shasta Ventures
TuRnTo neTwoRk
www.turnto.com
HQ:
New York, NY
ceO:
George Eberstadt
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
< 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Sel-unded
waTeRcooLeR
www.watercooler-inc.com
HQ:
Mountain View, CA
ceO:
Kevin Chou
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 20
INveStOrS INcLude:
Canaan Partners
wePLay
www.weplay.com
HQ:
New York, NY
ceO:
Steve Hansen
FOuNded:
2008
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
FirstMark Capital, DeepFork Advisors
Category
Digital Publishers
ZynGa
www.zynga.com
HQ:
San Francisco, CA
ceO:
Mark Pincus
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
> 100
INveStOrS INcLude:
Avalon Ventures,Clarium Capital, Foundry Group, Pilot Group,Union Square Ventures, Kleiner PerkinsCaueld & Byers
5min
www.5min.com
HQ:
Or Yehuda, Israel
ceO:
Ran Harnevo
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
25
INveStOrS INcLude:
Spark Capital
buZZneT
www.buzznet.com
HQ:
Hollywood, CA
ceO:
Tyler Goldman
FOuNded:
2003
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 80
INveStOrS INcLude:
Anthem VenturePartners, Redpoint Ventures, UniversalMusic Group
enseQuence
www.ensequence.com
HQ:
Portland, OR
ceO:
Dalen Harrison
FOuNded:
2000
eMpLOYeeS:
> 100
INveStOrS INcLude:
Westbury Partners
GiGya
www.gigya.com
HQ:
Palo Alto, CA
ceO:
David Yovanno
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
< 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
Benchmark Capital,First Round Capital, Mayeld Fund, DAGVentures
neoedGe neTwoRks
www.neoedge.com
HQ:
Mountain View, CA
ceO:
Alex Terry
FOuNded:
2002
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
Jeerson Partners,Vimac Ventures
Category
MobileMarketing andAdvertising
aPPTeRa
www.apptera.com
HQ:
San Bruno, CA
ceO:
Henry Vogel
FOuNded:
2001
eMpLOYeeS:
> 25
INveStOrS INcLude:
Lightspeed VenturePartners, Alloy Ventures, WaldenInterantional
admob
www.admob.com
HQ:
Menlo Park, CA
ceO:
Omar Hamoui
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
> 80
INveStOrS INcLude:
Sequoia Capital, AccelPartners
bLyk
www.blyk.com
HQ:
London, U.K.
ceO:
Pekka Ala-Pietilä
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
> 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
Sonnova Partners,Goldman Sachs, Industrial and FinancialInvestments
GReysTRiPe
www.greystripe.com
HQ:
San Francisco, CA
ceO:
Michael Chang
FOuNded:
2003
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Incubic Venture Fund,Monitor Ventures, Steamboat Ventures
imimobiLe
www.imimobile.com
HQ:
Hyderabad, India
ceO:
Vishwanath Alluri
FOuNded:
1999
eMpLOYeeS:
400
INveStOrS INcLude:
Spark Ventures,FirstMark Capital
kadoink
www.kadoink.com
HQ:
San Francisco, CA
ceO:
Scott Cahill
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 15
INveStOrS INcLude:
Sutter Hill Ventures
Limbo
www.limbo.com
HQ:
Burlingame, CA
ceO:
Jonathon Linner
FOuNded:
2005
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 40
INveStOrS INcLude:
Azure Capital Partners,Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New EnterpriseAssociates
mediaLeTs
www.medialets.com
HQ:
New York, NY
ceO:
Eric Litman
FOuNded:
2008
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 15
movoxx
www.movoxx.com
HQ:
Santa Monica, CA
ceO:
Alec Andronikov
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Greycrot Partners,Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, BVCapital
smaaTo
www.smaato.com
HQ:
Redwood Shores, CA
ceO:
Ragnar Kruse
FOuNded:
2005
eMpLOYeeS:
26
INveStOrS INcLude:
Aeris Capital, WilsonSonsini Goodrich & Rosati
vibes media
www.vibes.com
HQ:
Chicago, IL
ceO:
Alex Campbell
FOuNded:
1998
eMpLOYeeS:
> 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
Fidelity Ventures
Category
Next-GenerationSearch
Like.com
www.like.com
HQ:
San Mateo, CA
ceO:
Munjal Shah
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 40
INveStOrS INcLude:
BlueRun Ventures,Leaprog Ventures, Bay Partners, MenloVentures, Crosslink Capital
become.com
www.become.com
HQ:
Mountain View, CA
ceO:
Michael Yang
FOuNded:
2004
eMpLOYeeS:
< 50
INveStOrS INcLude:
TPG Growth, EuropeanFounders Fund
 The 2009
OnMedia 100
2009OnMedia100
categoryWinner
2009OnMedia100
categoryWinner
2009OnMedia100
categoryWinner
bRanchnexT
www.branchnext.com
HQ:
San Francisco, CA
ceO:
Ron Bouganim
FOuNded:
2007
eMpLOYeeS:
< 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Novel TMT InvestmentGroup, angels
 
cooLiRis
www.cooliris.com
HQ:
Menlo Park, CA
ceO:
Soujanya Bhumkar
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
< 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Kleiner PerkinsCaueld & Byers
kosmix
www.kosmix.com
HQ:
Mountain View, CA
ceO:
Venky Harinarayan
FOuNded:
2004
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Lightspeed VenturePartners, Accel Partners, DAG Ventures,Time Warner Investments
seaRchandise
www.searchandise.net 
HQ:
Beverly, MA
ceO:
John Federman
FOuNded:
2000
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 20
INveStOrS INcLude:
Cloquet CapitalPartners, DFJ Gotham Ventures, WheatleyPartners, Milestone Venture Partners,Infection Point Ventures
sense neTwoRks
www.sensenetworks.com
HQ:
New York, NY
ceO:
Greg Skibiski
FOuNded:
2003
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Drobny Global, TheChallenge Funds, Passport Capital
wiZe
www.wize.com
HQ:
San Mateo, CA
ceO:
Tom Patterson
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
> 10
INveStOrS INcLude:
Bessemer VenturePartners, Mayeld Fund
Category
OnlineAdvertisingService Providers
adaP.Tv
www.adap.tv 
HQ:
San Mateo, CA
ceO:
Amir Ashkenazi
FOuNded:
2006
eMpLOYeeS:
ca. 35
INveStOrS INcLude:
Redpoint Ventures,Gemini Israel Funds, Spark Capital
access 360 media
www.access360media.com
HQ:
Venice, CA
ceO:
Lon Otremba
FOuNded:
2003
eMpLOYeeS:
> 20
INveStOrS INcLude:
Bessemer VenturePartners, Mission Ventures
2009OnMedia100
categoryWinner
of 00

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