Travel Ad Network Closes $15 Million Series C Financing

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – October 19, 2010) –  Travel Ad Network (TAN), the leading and largest vertical media company in travel, announced today that it has closed a Series C round of financing. The $15 million round was led by StarVest Partners with participation by existing investors Rho Ventures and Village Ventures.

TAN previously raised $15 million primarily from Rho Ventures with participation by Village Ventures and individual investors in a round in early 2008. Since inception, the company has raised approximately $31 million.

“Travel Ad Network’s goal remains to build, serve and organize the largest online travel audience worldwide. Our advantage is to understand intent throughout the lifecycle of travel planning and purchase,” says Brian Silver, President and CEO of Travel Ad Network. “With more than 36 million monthly unique visitors worldwide, we can deliver the appropriate ad, utilizing both audience and contextual relevancy across a single platform.”

“Travel Ad Network has grown revenue more than 30% despite the economic and advertising industry headwinds in both 2009 and 2010. This is a very impressive accomplishment by Brian and his team and we look forward to working with them on the next generation of online travel marketing,” says StarVest general partner Larry A. Bettino, who will join TAN’s Board of Directors. 

GCA Savvian Advisors, LLC, served as the financial advisor to TAN for this transaction.

StarVest Partners (www.starvestpartners.com) is a New York-based venture capital firm with $400 million under management that is funding technology-enabled business services companies throughout the U.S. The firm’s value-added partnership maintains a laser focus on four key emerging technology and services sectors: Software as a Service (SaaS), Internet Marketing Services, eCommerce Services and Data Aggregation Services. StarVest combines a sophisticated investment background with the experience to foresee opportunities for both its portfolio companies and funding partners. The firm’s general partners are Larry A. Bettino, Deborah A. Farrington, Laura B. Sachar and Jeanne M. Sullivan.

Since 1981, Rho Ventures (http://www.rho.com) has been investing in leading-edge, high-growth companies that redefine the status quo. The firm has a deep history of supporting companies at multiple stages of growth spanning early stage investments to later stage expansion and growth equity transactions. Rho Ventures has financed approximately 200 companies and has invested in market leaders across many high-growth sectors including information technology, communications, new media, healthcare and energy technology. Rho has over $2 billion under management.

Village Ventures (www.villageventures.com) is an early stage venture firm with $150 million under management as well as services and a knowledge-sharing platform serving a network of dozens of other venture funds with over $1 billion under management.

Travel Ad Network (TAN) (www.traveladnetwork.com) is the leading advertising platform in the online travel vertical, reaching more than 36 million worldwide unique users through top tier website publishers, including BBC’s Lonely Planet, Rand McNally, SpaFinder, Let’s Go, Gannett’s Hawaii.com, Priceline’s Hotelsbycity network, HomeAway UK and almost 300 other travel websites. TAN uses industry expertise, geographic targeting and exclusive publisher relationships to give marketers unrivaled access to an untapped audience of affluent, passionate and engaged travelers visiting both travel planning sites and booking engine sites. Founded in 2003, the company is privately held and is headquartered in New York City with branch offices in the West, Midwest and Southeast, as well as in the UK. Travel Ad Network investors include Rho Ventures, Village Ventures, StarVest Partners and individual investors.