Google is buying advertising technology startup Invite Media in a “$70 million range” deal, reports MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka. We’ve pinged the Mountain View company for confirmation but have not heard back yet.
Kafka has confirmed the story with multiple sources, who also said Google intends to keep Invite Media running as a stand-alone unit. At a later time, it would be integrated into its DoubleClick for Advertisers product, he adds.
Update: Google responded with this canned statement: “Although we’re always talking to various companies about a variety of things, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation.”
Invite Media is an ad technology company founded in April, 2007 in Philadelphia out of the University of Pennsylvania. The startup, which is headquartered in New York City, builds and operates what it refers to as a “universal buying platform” for display media, called Bid Manager.
This platform allows buyers to optimize online campaigns in real-time across multiple inventory sources, including Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange and Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Additional features include the ability to access third party data providers directly through the same central interface, gain reporting and analytics on key metrics, and build an internal “exchange practice” around a fully self-service platform.
Since February, its platform supports full real-time bidding and self-service integrations with ad networks AdBrite, AdMeld and PubMatic.
The company claims Bid Manager gives media buyers access to over 12 billion highly-targeted impressions per day through a single central interface.
Invite Media raised money from investors such as First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, and strategic angels, but it’s unclear exactly how much.
Watch for updates.