Pontiflex Closes $6.25 Million in Series B Funding

Companys Cost-per-Lead Offering Enables Brand and Direct Marketers to Generate Guaranteed Returns on Online Advertising

BROOKLYN, N.Y. Pontiflex, creator of the online advertising industry’s first open and transparent Cost-per-Lead (CPL) market, today announced the completion of $6.25 million in Series B funding led by RRE Ventures. Existing investors New Atlantic Ventures and Greenhill SAVP also participated in the round. The new capital will be used to strengthen the company’s flagship Pontiflex AdLeads™ product that makes online lead generation simple, effective and transparent.

In conjunction with the financing, Eric Wiesen, Principal at RRE Ventures, has joined the Pontiflex board of directors. “The trend in online advertising is clear, and that trend is toward ad spend that generates a measureable return on investment,” said Mr. Wiesen. “Pontiflex is at the forefront of enabling a wider array of advertisers to achieve their performance advertising goals via the emerging CPL model.”

Pontiflex offers advertisers the opportunity to purchase high-quality customer leads via brand-specific banner and direct response ad units. These “marketing leads,” generated via the Pontiflex platform, represent potential customers who have voluntarily opted in to receive an advertiser’s messages.

Pontiflex has experienced explosive growth since its Series A funding last year. Major advertisers such as Kimberly-Clark, Gold’s Gym, eFax and ad agencies such as Universal McCann, Carat, Leapfrog Interactive and RUF are leveraging Pontiflex to generate guaranteed returns on their branding and direct campaigns.

Pontiflex’s rapid growth is consistent with the emergence of performance advertising as the fastest growing segment of online advertising. According to the recently-released 2008 IAB PWC Internet advertising report, performance-based advertising accounted for 57% of the total online advertising spend of $23.4 billion, up from 51% in 2007.

However, capitalizing on the true promise of performance advertising has remained a challenge for many marketers. With falling click-through rates and increasingly expensive keywords, marketers are finding it difficult to generate strong marketing ROI.

With Pontiflex AdLeads, advertisers can connect to the entire lead generation market through a single point of connection. They can select premium publishers for their campaigns and run display and direct response creative on a CPL pricing model. Both brand and direct response advertisers use these leads to build customer acquisition programs, community sites, e-newsletter lists, social networking groups and loyalty programs.

“Our team has been delighted by the overwhelming market response to transparent CPL advertising from a wide variety of industry sectors,” said Zephrin Lasker, CEO and Co-founder, Pontiflex. “By allowing advertisers to connect with the right consumers in a cost-effective way, we are confident Pontiflex will continue to see rapid uptake from both brand and direct marketers.”

For more information please visit www.pontiflex.com.

Source: Pontiflex