Dealflow | October 30, 2006

The Big Deal:

[Internet Services] – Spot Runner

The Rest:

[Mobile] – Thumbplay

[Hardware / Software] – Intrusic

INTERNET SERVICES

Spot Runner

Los Angeles, CA

Funding:$40M

Prior funding:$10M

Round:C

Description:Internet-based advertising agency with an emphasis on television spots.

Investors: WPP, CBS Corp., Interpublic Group, Allen & Co. Tudor Investment Corp., Lachlan Murdoch, Vivi Nevo, Index Ventures, and Battery Ventures

The Herring Take:Check out today’s article about Spot Runner.

MOBILE

Thumbplay

New York, NY

Funding:$10M

Prior funding: $7.5M

Round:C

Description:

Lead Investor:Bain Capital Ventures

Other Investors:SoftBank Capital and i-Hatch Ventures

The Herring Take:We spoke with Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO, and he spelled out the details of the mobile-themed business. For starters, the company’s focus is on delivering mobile content – overtop that of a typical carrier’s downloading services.According to Traasdahl, this concept is already seeing success in Europe, where approximately 70 percent of the $5-6 billion mobile content marketplace is sold directly to consumers through a third party, not the original carrier.

The company’s already linked deals with major distributors like Universal Music and Walt Disney, a win-win situation for all parties involved.“The way I look at them, they are our wholesalers and marketers,” Mr. Traasdahl said. “They want to get their content out on as many channels as possible and make sure somebody is marketing for them.”

Thumbplay pulled in approximately 5.3 million unique visitors in July, according to Mr. Traasdahl.And members of the site’s subscription service ($9.99 monthly!) typically download anywhere between two and five content items monthly: mobile ringtones, graphics, games, and other text-based services.“We have actually been very positively surprised with our take rates on the subscriptions,” Mr. Traasdahl said.“They typically get half-price off, so something that would cost $2 a la carte will cost you $1 in a subscription service.”

Recently, the service launched a Netflix-style ratings system, allowing its users to recommend items to their friends.While Thumbplay has a lot of competition in the mobile market, Mr. Traasdahl said the company is one of the U.S. market’s fastest-growing in terms of revenues (undisclosed) and subscriptions.

HARDWARE / SOFTWARE

Intrusic

Burlington, MA

Funding: $8M

Prior Funding: $8M

Round: B

Description: Develops a monitoring and detection application to control unauthorized network activity.

Lead Investor: NorthBridge Venture Partners   

Other Investor: DFJ New England and Draper Fisher Jurvetson

The Herring Take: The company plans to use the funding to continue development on its Intrusic platform, a package of hardware and software-based analytical tools.According to the company, Intrusic 4.0 Sensors captures a wide range of communicated data: packets, sessions, applications, hosts, users, and content.The program even allows network operators to access files in the data stream, as well as instant message conversations.

This past June, Intrusic won the Global Excellence in Internal Network Security Customer Trust 2006 Award. an accolade distributed by Info Security Products Guide.According to the Intrusic, more than 18,000 people participated in a worldwide vote for the award.

Contact the writer:DMurphy@RedHerring.com

Want more deals?