BOSTON, MA — (Marketwire) — 05/08/12 — , the mobile engagement engine for the app economy, announced a $20 million Series B round of financing led by Charles River Ventures. SessionM-s current investors, Highland Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB), also fully participated in the round. The company will use the financing to hire top talent and continue rapid expansion of its platform, technology and network footprint.
As part of the financing, Jon Auerbach, general partner at Charles River Ventures, joins the SessionM board. “We are thrilled to back the SessionM team and have seen firsthand that the mobile advertising space is primed for major growth,” said Auerbach. “We believe that SessionM-s mobile platform is the best way to increase retention and engagement for developers while delivering exciting new advertising experiences for brands.”
“The next wave of growth in mobile will focus on driving meaningful engagement, and the time is now for developers and advertisers alike to embrace new consumer-centric approaches that deliver on the promise of this medium,” said Lars Albright, co-founder and CEO of SessionM. “In the last month, our clients have had some incredible successes with the platform, including app usage increase by close to 2X and an ad click-through-rate of over 20X standard industry averages, all leading to increased time spent in apps and more advertising revenue.”
Brian Bos, SVP & Group Director of Emerging Technology at Team Detroit, agency for Ford Motor Company, agrees that there is an appetite from brands for new mobile solutions. “We are always looking for ways to drive a deeper consumer engagement within our mobile campaigns and break outside of the traditional banner approach, without sacrificing scale or the quality of content that we associate with our brand. SessionM offers a new, unique way to engage the mobile audience that rewards them for brand interaction, and we are currently working with them on our latest Ford Taurus campaign to gauge consumer response and interaction with this new ad format.”
SessionM has grown dramatically over the past six months, opening offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. While continuing to expand its engineering team, the company is also focused on building a world-class mobile media sales organization, hiring veteran sellers from Microsoft, MTV and AT&T.
Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures is a bi-coastal venture firm. With a 42-year history, it is one of the nation-s oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms. CRV is dedicated to helping exceptional entrepreneurs turn their ideas into the next category leaders in high growth technology and media sectors. Over the past 20 years, CRV funds have been ranked among the industry-s top performers. CRV has offices in Cambridge, MA and Menlo Park, CA. For more information visit.
Founded in 2011 by industry veterans of leading advertising technology companies, SessionM has built an innovative platform that ignites deeper engagement with mobile content and advertising. Our clients include some of the most notable developers and advertisers in the world, including Viacom Interactive, The Weather Channel, Demand Media, Honda, Universal, Volvo and Unilever. SessionM is funded by Charles River Ventures, Highland Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The company is part of the iFund initiative at KPCB. SessionM is headquartered in Boston.
Kristin Allaben or Brian Kramer for SessionM
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