Irvine-based SpecificMedia Inc., an Internet advertising company, has landed a $10 million first round of funding, which it plans to spend on sales and marketing, among other uses.
SpecificMedia is looking to help businesses wring results out of online advertising. During the past year or so, the company has rolled out a slew of services that help advertisers figure out who is buying, where they’re buying, what they’re buying and when they’re buying.
The company taps demographics, behavior patterns, geography and contextual measures to come up with its results.
“Based on the content you consume, we can predict who you are,” said Tim Vanderhook, cofounder and chief executive of the company.
SpecificMedia has annual sales of an estimated $15 million and 45 employees, including 30 in OC. It’s looking to more than triple revenue in 2006 and add about 30 workers by the end of the year, Vanderhook said.
Vanderhook has bold plans for the company. He’s looking to do an initial public offering within three years. And he said he wants the company to be recording annual sales of $100 million by the middle of 2007.
But SpecificMedia has some big competition on the horizon. Vanderhook said Google Inc. presents a challenge, as does Advertising.com Inc., a unit of Time Warner Inc.’s AOL unit.
He sees the biggest threat from Microsoft Corp., which can use the data it collects to help advertisers target potential customers.
“Ultimately, I worry about Microsoft,” Vanderhook said.
For more on this story, see the June 19 edition of the Business Journal.
