Ten Web Startups to Watch
Page 8 of 10
Semantic Ads
Peer39’s algorithms promise better ways of mining language.
By Lissa Harris
Company: Peer39
Founding date: 2006
Funding amount: $11 million
The semantic web is coming. That means that software will comb blogs, social networks, and forums for information about the meaning of a page, reading it ever-more intelligently–and, of course, better targeting advertisements.
This last bit is where Peer39, a semantic-advertising company founded by entrepreneur Amiad Solomon, comes in. Peer39’s investors are betting that the company’s algorithms–built on research at the Technion Institute of Technology and Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study–will improve on existing methods. “These guys find organic expressions of demand on the Web, on blogs, on forums and chats–all kinds of specific areas where people are talking about products,” says Jon Medved, an angel investor in the company. Then they instantly deliver custom advertising. “It’s a more compelling user experience,” Medved says.
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