NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spot.IM, the technology company that enables publishers to increase and monetize social engagement on their own sites, announced today a Series C investment of $25 million led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Altair VC and Norma Investments, representing businessman Roman Abramovich. The financing will be used to fund Spot.IM’s global expansion, including doubling the size of its New York-based team, and for further investment in its publisher engagement platform.
"In a few years, Spot.IM has quickly developed a strong reputation among top-tier publishers like Oath, Engadget, Time Inc., Fox News and Sky Sports for providing them with tools to increase and monetize engagement," said Jeff Horing, co-founder and Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners. "What Nadav and the team have built is very impressive, and we're excited to work together to build a media-centric ecosystem."
Since closing its Series B round last year, Spot.IM’s presence on publisher sites has virtually doubled to billions of monthly page views and more than 400 million subscribers. Spot.IM replaces standard commenting platforms with tools and capabilities similar to that of a social network such as real-time commenting, auto moderation, live broadcast, user reviews, notifications, follower capability, real-time analytics, cross-publisher promotion and mobile SDK. The company currently provides its technology to 70% of the top U.S. media players.
Nadav Shoval, CEO of Spot.IM, said, "For years, publishers have watched other companies profit from the expensive, high quality content they produce. Spot.IM’s groundbreaking technology puts publishers back in the driver’s seat, allowing them to better monetize their own content and create engaged communities.”
As publishers face increasing pressure from social media giants and tech companies, a huge untapped opportunity exists to capture traffic: Comscore estimates a global market of over 1 trillion monthly page views. Spot.IM enables publishers to tap into this potential revenue source by providing them with a portfolio of highly effective products to retain and develop proprietary visitor engagement on their own domains.
“Spot.IM has been awesome,” says Jose Del Corral, Head of Product at Engadget. "Their technology is light years ahead of anything else and their value add is focused on putting publishers first."
Traffic analytics show that publisher page views and on-site engagement surge with Spot.IM. The DNA of the product is designed to drive traffic to where communities are most likely to engage.
“The audience engagement on publisher sites goes far deeper than it does on generic social platforms," added Shoval. "Spot.IM always has been - and always will be - 100% committed to empowering the publisher community. It’s fundamental to everything we do.”
About Spot.IM
Founded in 2012 by Nadav Shoval and Ishay Green, New York City-based Spot.IM is a disruptive open social networking platform that enables the online publishing industry and its digital media partners to directly curate their own communities' social interactions. This results in organic site engagement on billions of monthly page views. Partnering with over 70 percent of the top tier digital publishing industry, Spot.IM works with online publishers, such as Oath, Time Inc., Fox News and Refinery29, to take back ownership of their audiences and the conversations around their content while adding greater social value and overall traffic monetization.
About Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $18 billion and invested in over 300 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.
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