VigLink, a US-based provider of affiliate marketing services backed by internet company Google, has acquired LinkSmart, a US-based company focused on content promotion.
The company concurrently secured $2m from venture capital firms, and LinkSmart backers, Foundry Group and Costanoa Venture Capital, increasing its series C round to $20m.
Google Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Google, participated in the $18m first tranche of the series C round, which closed in June, along with RRE Ventures, Emergence Capital, First Round Capital, Silicon Valley Bank and Correlation Ventures.
Google Ventures also invested in VigLink’s $1.1m series A round in 2010 and its $5.4m series B round the following year.
LinkSmart, which was acquired for an undisclosed sum, operates a publisher network it claims has more than a billion page views a month. It had raised $9.6m across three rounds from Foundry, Costanoa and Sutter Hill Ventures.
Oliver Roup, chief executive of VigLink, said: “Traffic is the currency of the web. In LinkSmart we saw a common belief in the power of links and a great opportunity to significantly grow the size and scale of our business. We are thrilled to welcome our new valued customers.”