Here’s the full press release. Congratulations goes out to Gigya.
GIGYA SECURES $9.5 MILLION IN SERIES B FUNDING LED BY MAYFIELD FUND
Investment Round to Support Continued Growth and Development of Tools for the Discovery and Monetization of the Social Web
PALO ALTO, CA - March 11, 2008 - Gigya, the largest performance-based widget distribution network and provider of tools and technologies for distributing, tracking and analyzing widgets, today announced the completion of a $9.5 million Series B round of financing led by Mayfield Fund, with additional investment from existing investors Benchmark Capital and First Round Capital. Gigya’s Wildfire technology currently installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day, and tracks over three billion widget impressions per month for its clients, including Kimberly-Clark, MTV, Levis, Sprint and Toyota.
Gigya will use the funds to continue its rapid growth, including the enhancement of its core Wildfire technology, its pay-per-install widget distribution network, as well as the development of additional products that facilitate the discovery and monetization of the social web.
“Marketers and content creators need solutions for effectively reaching and monetizing the vast but increasingly decentralized audience of social media users, and they are looking to us for results,” said Eyal Magen, CEO of Gigya, “Our steady focus on delivering measurable results to our publishers and advertisers is the reason we have achieved such enormous scale and impact less than a year after the launch of Wildfire. Mayfield’s investment validates our leadership position, and we are very excited to have them leading this round of funding. ”
“As the widget economy grows, players like Gigya that are publisher friendly and with demonstrated momentum will become the infrastructure leaders of the social web,” said Navin Chaddha, Managing Director, Mayfield Fund. “Gigya is the number one widget distribution network, and we are excited about their team and their unique ability to monetize that network, using the pay per install model.”
“Since investing in Gigya 18 months ago, we have been astonished by the company’s rapid growth. Gigya provides the perfect set of solutions for accelerating atomization of the web, enabling content providers to take full advantage of the social web,” said Michael Eisenberg, General Partner, Benchmark Capital.
Navin Chaddha will be joining Michael Eisenberg on Gigya’s board of Directors. Navin was named a top 10 investor on the Forbes Midas List in 2008.
Beginning with the launch of Wildfire in April 2007, Gigya has delivered innovative discovery and monetization solutions to the social media ecosystem. Gigya’s Wildfire technology promotes viral distribution by allowing users to quickly and easily grab and share the widgets they want through social networks, blogs, email and bookmarking sites. In January of 2008, Gigya launched its advertising network for accelerating widget distribution, rapidly delivering and tracking brand advertiser widgets across social media platforms on a pay-per-install basis. Both products provide leading-edge reporting and analytics tools that help advertisers and publishers understand and optimize their social media campaigns.
About Gigya
Gigya delivers innovative discovery and monetization solutions to the social media ecosystem, connecting brand advertisers, content publishers and an enormous audience of active social media users. Gigya serves the world’s largest brands with a full-service widget advertising model covering design, development, hosting, distribution, viral promotion and tracking. Gigya’s Wildfire technology installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day and tracks over three billion impressions per month. Gigya’s partners include EyeWonder, Doubleclick, ElectronicArts, RockYou!, Webshots, Snapvine and many others. To learn more or to get started, go to: www.gigya.com
About Mayfield Fund
Over the past 38 years, Mayfield Fund has been at the forefront of investing in emerging businesses that have grown into industry leaders. Mayfield Fund invests in the U.S., China and India and currently has $2.7 billion under management. It has invested in over 480 companies of which 105 have had initial public offerings and another 160 have been acquired. Some of Mayfield past impact investments include Compaq, Amgen, SGI, 3COM, Sandisk, Citrix, Cypress Semiconductor, Intuitive Surgical, Web Methods, Tibco, 3PAR and LSI Logic.
