Adify Raises $19 Million to Fuel Growth of Vertical Ad Network Market.

Series B Financing Led by US Venture Partners, with GE Commercial Finance & NBC Universal, Time Warner Investments and Venrock Associates

SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- Adify Corporation, the leading provider of technology and services that power online vertical advertising networks, today announced that it has secured $19 million in Series B financing led by US Venture Partners (USVP). The round includes previous investor Venrock Associates, and strategic financing from GE Media, Communications and Entertainment (a unit of GE Commercial Finance), NBC Universal, Inc. and Time Warner Investments. Adify raised an $8.25 million Series A round last year.

Adify's unique Build Your Own Network[TM] (BYON) offering has quickly become a powerful tool for traditional media companies seeking to expand their advertising offerings and to extend their brands in the evolving Web 2.0 publishing environment. Global Media 1,000 partners such as Time Warner, The Washington Post Company and Reed Business Information are able to increase their reach and grow their revenue by using Adify to aggregate niche, high-quality content sites and create customized, vertical ad networks.

For example, Adify is working with Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI) to power its Sponsored Blogroll program. Combining ad space from washingtonpost.com and high-quality, independent bloggers, Sponsored Blogroll enables marketers to reach a broad audience across the Web in a single buy. Major national advertisers such as Marriott and Lufthansa have signed on as sponsors for the travel blog section of the network.

Since launching at the Web 2.0 Conference last November, Adify has provided the technology, services and industry know-how needed to create dozens of custom advertising networks. Adify was recently recognized as a leader in helping advertisers target specific market niches on the Web when it was named to Business 2.0's Next Net 25 list of the next hot Internet companies.

"We recognize that vertical networks - networks that combine content from or across a complementary group of web properties - are the next logical evolution for publishers seeking to expand their advertising solutions for customers," said Beth Comstock, President, Integrated Media, NBC Universal. "They are quickly becoming an important way to develop scale for our marketing clients."

"Adify's unique technology provides innovative monetization opportunities for online publishers," said Rachel Lam, SVP and Group Managing Director of Time Warner Investments. "As the market for online advertising grows, existing media companies are seeking to extend the power of their brands to bring in targeted, smaller brands under the same umbrella. Adify's technology empowers media companies to more easily reach niche, vertical audiences, while also giving smaller publishers the ability to leverage the name and brand of their more well-known partners."

"Vertical advertising is the predominant model in other media channels, and advertisers are driving to extend this paradigm to the online world. Adify is well positioned to bring the same level of audience segmentation to the Web," said Tim Connors, general partner, USVP. "In short order, Adify has built an impressive list of partners and networks, reaching highly-targeted consumers on thousands of quality web properties that make up the long tail of the Internet."

"Brand advertisers need an effective way to reach fragmented audiences on highly-targeted content sites and vertical ad networks fill this need. Adify's recent financing, as well as our partnerships with top media companies such as Time Warner and WPNI, validates our leadership in enabling vertical networks," said Russ Fradin, Adify CEO and co-founder. "Our mission is to provide all of the technology and services required to manage every facet of a vertically-focused ad network - from inventory management and pricing to ad serving and reporting - giving network builders a turnkey platform for developing a sustainable, long-term advertising model."

About Adify

Adify was founded in 2005 by online advertising pioneers from Flycast Communications, one of the original online ad networks. Adify's management team has over 40 years of combined online media experience from revolutionary companies like comScore, Excite, and eBay. Adify is based in San Bruno, Calif. and is funded by Venrock Associates, US Venture Partners, GE Media, Communications and Entertainment (a division of GE Commercial Finance) and NBC Universal, Inc. and Time Warner Investments.

About GE Commercial Finance

GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $230 billion and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work - a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

About GE Media, Communications and Entertainment

With nearly $8 billion in assets and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Norwalk and San Francisco, the Media, Communications and Entertainment business is a global strategic partner to the media, communications and entertainment industries and the technologies that enable them. We bring GE's full resources and financial strength to each relationship, while delivering industry expertise and flexible financing solutions that maximize stakeholder value. For more information, please visit www.geMCE.com.

About NBC Universal

NBC Universal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80 percent owned by General Electric and 20 percent owned by Vivendi.

About Time Warner Investments

The Time Warner Investments group targets non-control strategic investments that have a clear impact on Time Warner's divisional operations and directly enhance the Company's ability to meet specific strategic goals. Time Warner Inc. is a leading media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks and publishing.

About USVP

U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) has helped build great companies for nearly three decades. Since its inception in 1981, USVP has invested more than $1.8 billion in over 350 companies. Throughout, USVP's partners have worked diligently and consistently with early-stage companies, many of which have become industry leaders.