SimilarWeb Ltd. has raised tens of millions of dollars in its third financing round from South African media company Naspers Ltd. (JSE: NPN). The company did not disclose the size of the investment, but it has previously raised $7 million from Yossi Vardi, former Microsoft Israel R&D director Moshe Lichtman, Lord Alliance, the Recanati family's Naftali Investments, and Docor International Management Ltd. The company will use the proceeds to expand its global web measurement and competitive intelligence solutions for the online marketing industry.
SimilarWeb was founded in 2009 by CEO Or Offer and Nir Cohen, but changed direction over two years ago to its current business of tracking and analyzing Internet users and traffic. The company's complex analysis creates visual and user-friendly answers.
"We're are delighted to welcome Naspers to be part of our team and accelerate our growth to help us build a global brand that will become synonymous with online measurement and competitive intelligence for any digital business," said Offer. "Naspers invested in us, after using our product and falling in love with it."
Offer added, "We intend to hold an IPO within two years."
SimilarWeb has hired 20 new employees over the past 18 months and moved to new offices in Tel Aviv's Levinstein Tower, the former residence of Google Israel Ltd. before it moved to the Electra Tower. The company opened an office in London in October 2013 and plans to open an office in Germany in March, followed by representative offices in the US.
SimilarWeb's business model is based on premium services for in-depth analysis of website traffic. It has thousands of customers, including Adidas AG (XETRA: ADS), eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), and Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 24, 2014
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