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One Fewer Ad Network: Peer39 Shuts Down “Semantic Ad Network,” Concentrating on Technology

by Peter Kafka
Posted on January 6, 2009 at 11:30 AM PT

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I’ve yet to find anyone with a firm grip on the number of ad networks out there: 300? 400? Many more? But now there’s one fewer: Peer39, a New York- and Israel-based company, has turned off its “Semantic Ad Network” and laid off its four-person sales staff.

CEO Amiad Solomon says the company will focus its resources on its core semantic technology, which is supposed to let publishers, ad agencies and other clients quickly assess the content on any given Web page and post an appropriate ad. The company employs 50 people, but will expand to 60 or 70 by the end of this year, Solomon tells me.

The company has raised $11.7 million from Canaan Venture Partners, Dawntreader Ventures, and J.P. Morgan.

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  • Joe Cowen
    Peer39’s technology looks truly state of the art to me. The fact that they’re combining numeric-based technology (machine learning) and symbolic-based technique such as natural language have something to say about what they’re doing, because these 2 non-compatible domains are quite difficult to combine into one single framework. You can use or adopt them both in an application, but they’re not working as one framework. They’re still 2 different methods working together in one application. There is progress in its development and it will continue to improve over time and there is no doubt that Peer39 is right into its development at the moment.
  • Seriously? These Yahoos have been running around for years describing a world in which 'natural language processing' can do all sorts of fanciful things. 10 value propositions later, and they seem stuck on finding a problem for their elegant solution.
  • Better Headline: 'Peer39 Searches Black Box for Pi'
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About Peter

Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »

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