Adknowlege Raises More Than $200M for Acquisitions

Ad marketplace Adknowledge has raised more than $200 million in financing to continue the acquisitions that have thus far fueled its growth.

JMI Equity led the equity investment; Bank of America led the debt component.

Adknowledge’s Bidsystem platform allows advertisers to syndicate search advertisements into different types of non-search distribution on a cost-per-click and cost-per-action basis. It plans to use the funds to further expand its network so advertisers can access inventory in a range of channels, including mobile, video, content sites and display.

Having roughly doubled its revenue over the past 12 months, Adknowledge said it ended 2010 with $300 million in revenue.

Adknowledge is no stranger to acquisitions. In 2009 it bought Miva Media, an independent online performance advertising network, and Super Rewards, a virtual currency monetization platform for online games and social network applications. Last year it snatched up Hydra Group, a cost-per-acquisition network for consumer product and services companies.

The company declined to comment beyond the content of a press release issued this morning. Previously CEO Scott Lynn told ClickZ that Adknowledge was interested in any business that brings a new type of distribution to its ad community or that brings more distribution to the space it already occupies.

“Adknowledge has experienced tremendous growth since its founding, and we believe advertisers will continue to utilize the company’s sophisticated technology platform to streamline their marketing efforts,” said JMI Equity general partner Brad Woloson in a prepared statement. Woloson joined Adknowledge’s board of directors as a result of the financing.

According to Adknowlege, more than 10,000 advertisers use its platform to promote their offers across segments of online advertising such as casual gaming, e-mail, social networks, display, mobile and domain inventory.

Founded in 2004, Adknowledge has more than 300 employees.