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Linkstorm Secures US$4.2 Million Funding;
NEW YORK, October 23 /PRNewswire/ -- - Expands Focus to Advertising Applications - Former Ziff-Davis Advertising Luminary Jeff Ballowe Joins as Board Advisor - Company Also Announces Move Into New NYC Headquarters Linkstorm, based in New York City, has completed raising US$4.2 million, allowing the marketing technology company to expand its sales efforts into the advertising, marketing and e-commerce markets. Founded in 2000 as Content Directions, and renamed in November 2005, Linkstorm is pioneering a new approach to online advertising. The company has developed a next-generation Internet navigation and linking system that significantly increases user engagement and enhances the performance of online advertising, e-commerce and online publishing. The company's technology is already in use throughout the scientific, educational and professional publishing industry, where Linkstorm's clients including McGraw-Hill, Harvard Business School Publishing and Cambridge University Press, and where its underlying linking platform is used to interlink 99 percent of the world's scientific, technical and medical journal articles. The series C funding round, which was oversubscribed by former and new investors, will allow Linkstorm to expand its staff and begin an aggressive push into advertising and related market segments targeting large brands and leading advertising agencies. In addition, it has enabled the company to move into new Silicon Alley offices at 34 W. 22nd Street in the Flatiron section of Manhattan. Linkstorm's initial funding rounds included Esther Dyson, longtime editor of Release 1.0; former chairman of ICANN, which sets policy for the domain name system; and an active investor in a variety of Internet start-ups; Bob Weissman, former CEO/chairman of Dun and Bradstreet; Marty Kahn, Linkstorm chairman, venture partner with Rho Capital and entrepreneur of such information industry successes as OneSource, Ovid and BRS Information Systems; and David Sidman, company founder and CEO. The current round adds more than 60 new investors including Jim Rutt, principal of JPR Ventures, former Thomson executive and CEO of Network Solutions who sold it to Verisign for US$17 billion in 2000; and Jeff Ballowe, who retired from Ziff-Davis in 1998 having served as president of its interactive media division and also serving as publisher of PC Magazine. Mr. Ballowe has become an Advisor to Linkstorm's Board. More than 25 previous investors also re-upped in the current round; some have made as many as five investments in the company over time. "Linkstorm gives some control and speed back to the user; instead of clicking blindly on a link, the user can quickly see and pick from an array of choices in advance. That can work whether the link is to a merchant's site, an individual's profile or any other content," said Ms. Dyson. "For example, you could link to an investor's bio, portfolio, photo and other items in an online press release." Click http://linkstorms.com/rp/10000.2/edyson for an example of a Linkstorm Portable Universal Profile (PUP)(TM). "Linkstorm is that rare innovation in Internet advertising that benefits both the user and the advertiser," said Mr. Rutt. "This should give Linkstorm real staying power, especially against those alternatives that ultimately annoy the user to just short of the point of rebellion." Current board members are Marty Kahn, chairman; Lee Greenhouse, formerly a special limited partner with Flatiron Partners with decades of experience in building, managing and consulting on interactive services; and David Sidman. About Linkstorm Linkstorm is a marketing technology company that is pioneering a new approach to online advertising, e-commerce, publishing and social networking. The company's unique linking system significantly improves performance of all online advertising and enhances user engagement by overlaying cascading menus onto any ad format and quickly connecting users to the information they want. Clients include national and global advertisers, agencies and publishers such as Cisco, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Chevrolet, HP, Ogilvy, MRM and Hachette Filipacchi. Linkstorm is headquartered in New York City and is funded by visionary investors such as Esther Dyson (http://linkstorms.com/rp/10000.2/edyson/) and Jim Rutt (http://www.santafe.edu/profiles/?pid=160). For more information, please visit www.linkstorms.com or click http://dx.linkstorms.com/10000.1/pr47. All trade names are the property of their respective owners. This release is available on the KCSA Worldwide Web site at www.kcsa.com. CONTACT INFO: Anne Donohoe / Paul Marin KCSA Worldwide +1-212-896-1261 / +1-212-896-1274 adonohoe@kcsa.com / pmarin@kcsa.com Web site: http://www.linkstorms.com
