SAP Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Germany-based software group SAP, is leading a $20m series D round in US-based online advertising exchange OpenX.
Alongside SAP Ventures in the D round are AOL Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of internet services provider AOL, Japan-based financial services group Mitsui, Presidio Ventures, which invests on behalf of Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo and venture capital firms Accel Partners, DAG Ventures and Index Ventures.
Tim Cadogan, chief executive of OpenX, which is chaired by the former executive chairman of AOL Jonathan Miller, said: "Having new investors representing one of the world’s largest enterprise companies (SAP), one of the world’s largest internet pure-plays (AOL) and two of the most important global Asian trading firms (Mitsui and Sumitomo) all coming together to invest in the global technology platform company we are creating is – we believe – a compelling and powerful mix."
Nino Marakovic, head of SAP Ventures and who will sit on OpenX’s board, said: "We see digital advertising rapidly becoming an integral part of the enterprise ecosystem as it becomes more and more core to businesses."
He added to news provider Financial Times (FT): "The display ad market is the first time a big industry has adopted real-time infrastructure. A lot of companies won’t be able to adapt to the new reality. All business apps will be real-time."
Sanjay Pichaiah, principal at Mitsui Global Investment, said: "We’re also particularly impressed with the company’s execution of its global-local OpenX Market strategy that is typified by the impressive OpenX Market Japan partnership with Dentsu-cci. We think this model will also work well throughout the APAC region."
The company previously raised $31m, including $10m in its C round in May 2009, from publisher O’Reilly’s AlphaTech Ventures corporate venturing unit and VC firms DAG Ventures, Accel Partners, Index Ventures, Mangrove Capital and First Round Capital.
OpenX has reported revenues of more than $50m per year, according to the FT, with customers including discount coupon provider Groupon, Orange-France Telecom Group and Excite Japan.