Skimlinks raises growth financing round led by Greycroft Partners

Japanese investors join in; round will fuel expansion in Asia and accelerate product development

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Apr 22, 2013, 11:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Skimlinks, the leader in native monetization, announced today it has completed a growth financing round led by Greycroft Partners. Skimlinks will use the capital to further develop its revolutionary suite of content monetization solutions, and continue its geographic expansion across the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

New York-based Greycroft Partners is the VC behind other ad tech and online publishing startups such as Buddy Media, Collective, Klout, Huffington Post, and many more. Also joining the round are Japan-based angel investors, Hiro Maeda and Ryota Matsuzaki, as well as Forum Foundry, a Texas-based network of blog and forum communities. Existing investors also participated in the round. Ian Sigalow, Co-Founder and Partner at Greycroft Partners, will join the Skimlinks Board of Directors as an Observer.

"Hyperlinks are the core building block of the Internet and they exist on virtually every web page," said Sigalow. "Skimlinks pioneered the concept of optimizing hyperlinks to create more revenue for publishers, and today the company is a leading Internet utility. This year, Skimlinks will be responsible for over $500 million of e-commerce sales globally. They are the most effective way for publishers to link content to commerce."

Skimlinks generates revenues of seven-figures every month from its network of 140,000 active publishers, which has been growing 100-200% year-over-year for four consecutive years. Skimlinks processes 300 million clicks per month, resulting in a retailer transaction every four seconds. The company is planning to build upon the rich data it collects to help publishers earn even more revenues from the purchase intent generated by their content.

"Publishers and merchants alike are excited by the potential of native monetization, but it can be challenging to scale such solutions. Skimlinks is a scalable monetization solution that is inherently native, as it monetizes product links and product references seamlessly, with industry-leading accuracy and yield optimization," said Skimlinks CEO and Co-founder, Alicia Navarro. "Our goal is to help every type of publisher, on every device, in every geography to monetize their commerce-related content without affecting the user experience. By bringing on Greycroft, we can tap their vast industry knowledge and contacts to further cement our position as the leaders in content monetization."

Headquartered in London, Skimlinks has 55 employees with additional offices in San Francisco and New York. The company will expand operations to Asia this year.

Skimlinks was advised by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

About Skimlinks: Founded in 2007, Skimlinks is the leading content monetization platform that rewards publishers for the role their content plays in creating purchase intent. Skimlinks processes 300 million clicks a month on over 140,000 sites around the web, including Conde Nast, Gawker, AOL Europe, WordPress, Hearst Digital, Haymarket Consumer Media, Telegraph Media Group, and many more. Skimlinks is a team of 55 with offices in London, San Francisco, and New York. Sign up to be a publisher here.

About Greycroft Partners: Greycroft Partners is a leading early stage venture capital firm focused on investments in digital media. With offices in the two media capitals of the world - New York and Los Angeles – Greycroft is uniquely positioned to serve entrepreneurs who have chosen us as their partners. Greycroft leverages an extensive network of media and technology industry connections to help entrepreneurs gain visibility, build strategic relationships, successfully bring their products to market, and build successful businesses. Greycroft manages $400MM and has made over 75 investments in leading companies including Babble, Buddy Media, Collective, Huffington Post, Klout, M5 Networks, Maker Studios, Paid Content, Pulse, and Trunk Club. For more information please visit the Greycroft Partners website at www.greycroft.com.

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SOURCE Skimlinks