In the US, semantic ad solutions agency Peer39 has launched a platform which matches ads to online content by processing natural language, meaning and sentiment from web sites. The firm has also appointed a new COO and received $8m in investment funding.

Designed for publishers of portals, news sites, ad networks, social media, blogs, and forums; the company’s new SemanticMatch system helps advertisers target their ads to relevant web pages without the need for keyword targeting or cookie setting.

CEO Amiad Solomon says that semantic targeting is widely seen to be the next stage of advertising technology, beyond contextual or behavioral. ‘What makes our system different is that ads are targeted to the meaning of pages rather than to pre-selected keywords,’ Solomon explained. ‘We eliminate the errors that can plague keyword targeting and unlike other forms of online targeting, our SemanticMatch does not set cookies or track user behavior.’

The firm has also appointed former TACODA SVP Matthew Goldstein as Chief Operating Officer and closed $8m in Series B financing with Canaan Partners as the lead investor and with participation from existing investors, Dawntreader Ventures and JP Morgan.

Headquartered in New York City, Peer39 maintains a research and development center in Israel from where it conducts primary research in semantic web technologies. The company was founded in early 2006 by engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs from leading Internet companies and academic research centers.

Web site: www.peer39.com .

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