The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Mar 2010

Image Space Media (formerly Picad Media) operates an ad network that monetizes images on publishers' sites by serving overlay text ads matched to contextually relevant images using proprietary audience-targeting technology. The company has launched an analytics offering and a self-service tool for advertisers. Its AdStart product lets advertisers create text-based ads on a CPC or CPM basis, set bids, and fund accounts via credit card or PayPal with a $5 minimum for prepaid accounts; ads begin running immediately as overlays across the Image Space Media Network. Image Space Media faces competition from GumGum and others. The startup raised $1 million in new funding according to an SEC filing and earlier raised $2.9 million from New Atlantic Ventures, Ridgeline Capital, and Michael Gordon. Founder Kevin Tung confirmed another round from existing investors in advance of a planned Series B in 2011, and the company brought on new CEO Jesse Chenard last year. Image Space Media runs an in-image ad network and has built a publisher network of about 2,500 sites since launching in 2008. The company recently upgraded its platform with PubStop, an analytics dashboard showing total ad impressions, clicks, CTRs, eCPMs, number of images and other metrics to help publishers optimize image placements. Ads are text-only today, though the company plans to implement rich media ad formats soon. Founder and COO Kevin Tung says their CTRs are higher than average display rates (which he cites as roughly 0.2%–0.3%), but he declined to disclose exact figures. Image Space Media faces competition from firms like GumGum. The company also brought on a new CEO, Jesse Chenard, last year.