It’s been about a year since TV ad targeting firm Simulmedia raised money, which means it’s time to go back to the well for another round. The New York-based company just announced Monday that it has raised a $ 6 million Series C round from its existing group of investors, which include Avalon Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Time Warner Investments.
Simulmedia hopes to bring Internet-like targeting to the TV ad market by using set-top box data to identify shows that advertisers should run their spots against. The goal is to more effectively target ad spend in a market that is increasingly fragmented. Instead of just buying large audiences of viewers, the startup promises to reach more viewers for less money than through traditional TV ad buying. Early results have borne that out: Simulmedia claims that it can deliver more of a target audience for an average of 75 percent less than other networks.
The new round brings total financing raised to more than $ 27 million, and is notable for a few reasons: When Simulmedia raised its last round, it was still working with initial trial customers to show that the technology actually worked. Since then, the company has actually made its technology generally available, and has worked on more than 200 different media campaigns for 11 different media agencies and 24 different TV advertisers.
Simulmedia founder and CEO Dave Morgan — who previously founded Tacoda and Real Media — told me in a phone call that the funding would mostly be used to add more sales and support people, and to push out its data infrastructure. Morgan said the company was very close to being profitable, but was looking to stay ahead of customer demand as it ramps up.
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