Dotomi today announced the closing of $10.5 million in funding led by Investor Growth Capital (IGC) a new Dotomi investor. Existing investor U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) and new investor Velocity Equity Partners also participated in the round.
The funding will be used to increase the company's sales force and marketing programs.
Dotomi develops and markets the Dotomi Direct Messaging product, which transforms traditional ad banner space into a personal message window, giving marketers the ability to deliver personal, timely and relevant content to individual consumers.
According to industry analyst firm Jupiter Research, spending on e-mail marketing in the U.S. will rise from $2.1 billion in 2003 to $6.1 billion in 2008, with online advertising growing from $8 billion in 2003 to $14.8 billion in 2008. In addition, Jupiter states that over the course of 2003, the average U.S. online consumer received 3,920 unwanted commercial e-mail messages. This number will grow to reach an total of 6,395 by the end of 2008.
Dotomi states that it has solved the spam problem by delivering messages unobtrusively in the ad banner space, finding consumers as they surf the Web. Dotomi president and CEO John Federman said, "When a marketer's message is based on a consumer's self-expressed interests and delivered in a respectful way, consumers respond positively and buy more, which is evident in our Dotomi Direct Messaging 7-12% average click-through responses."
Dotomi has over 575,000 distinct "points of permission" with some of the largest corporations in Israel, such as: American Express, Blockbuster, Tower Records, Meridian Hotels and iBooks, and is currently the only company offering this level of one-to-one marketing in the ad banner space. Dotomi is privately held, with headquarters in Boston and offices in New York and Tel Aviv.
IGC managing director David Lee said, "We saw in Dotomi a company with a first-class management team that has successfully implemented its business model with over 70 customers in the Israeli marketplace."
As part of the funding Lee has joined the Dotomi board of directors, which also consists of Phil Young and Tim Connors of USVP, Scott Kurnit, former CEO of About.com and Yair Goldfinger and John Federman of Dotomi. Angel investor Esther Dyson of CNET Networks participates in Dotomi's advisory board as a private individual.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on Monday, September 27, 2004