Benchmark Capital Invests $8M in Conduit

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Conduit, the leading provider of web community toolbars, today announced that it has closed its series B round of funding with Benchmark Capital. The company will use the funds to expand adoption of its successful, on-demand community toolbar service and to offer a broader portfolio of web publisher syndication solutions.

“Conduit's performance has been remarkable,” comments Michael Eisenberg, general partner of Benchmark Capital and Conduit board member. “In less than two years, the company's innovative, on-demand delivery model has enabled tens of thousands of web publishers to build and distribute community toolbars to millions of active subscribers worldwide. The founders have demonstrated keen insight and flawless execution in their vision to connect publishers with subscribers in new and innovative ways.”

“Benchmark’s deep knowledge of the Internet and track record for establishing lasting partnerships make them a great match for us,” says Ronen Shilo, founder and CEO of Conduit. “Although the company is cash-flow positive, having Benchmark as our partner expands our network of resources and will help us upgrade our offering to deliver a complete family of web syndication solutions that enable publishers to connect and communicate more directly with their communities.”

Conduit’s on-demand community toolbar service allows any web publisher—from individual bloggers to major brands such as Major League Baseball—to create, promote and maintain a unique, personalized community toolbar reflecting their website without the cost and complexity of custom software. Publishers leverage the natural familiarity of toolbars to allow easy subscription to any part of their sites (such as search, login, RSS feeds, gadgets, podcasts and highly personalized components) and give subscribers immediate access to the content they want most, when they want it. In addition, Conduit’s intuitive on-demand solution automates the entire software lifecycle from community toolbar design through deployment and maintenance, saving publishers time and money to increase investment in their core products and services.

“Efficiently keeping track of content you care about on the Internet has become virtually impossible. Most people don’t have time to sift through huge numbers of web pages or develop a personalized home page. And it’s significantly more difficult for web publishers to turn their visitors into subscribers,” continues Shilo. “Syndicating your core content straight to the browser turns your visitors into regular subscribers and enables you to communicate with them directly in real time by pushing personalized, interactive content.”

As the Web continues to grow in size and complexity, including all the new Web 2.0 bells and whistles, Conduit aims to make it simpler and more efficient through on-demand solutions that enable web publishers to fully utilize the latest web syndication technologies.

About Conduit

Conduit provides web publisher syndication solutions that increase site traffic, revenue and brand loyalty while simplifying access to the content, communities and applications that subscribers care about most. By creating a direct, always-on connection between publishers and subscribers, Conduit opens new channels for real-time communication and extensive website syndication. More than 140,000 publishers have joined the Conduit network worldwide, including major brands such as Fox News, Lufthansa, Major League Baseball, Greenpeace, TechCrunch, Softonic and small and medium organizations in 180 countries around the globe. Web publishers who become part of the Conduit network have the opportunity to syndicate their content to all existing subscribers by allowing them to add it directly to the browser as simply as adding an RSS feed.

To create a community toolbar for your website, visit: http://www.conduit.com/.

About Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital, a leading venture capital firm, was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs with original ideas build successful technology companies. Benchmark’s general partners take a team-oriented, labor-intensive approach to venture investing to deliver a superior level of service to the firm’s portfolio companies. Benchmark’s portfolio includes high-profile startups like Infinera, MySQL, OpenTable, Second Life, Tellme, Yelp and Zillow, and franchise companies such as eBay, Juniper Networks and Red Hat. The firm manages more than USD 2.4 billion in committed venture capital. For more information on Benchmark Capital, visit its website at http://www.benchmark.com/.