• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 19, 2010

Eyeing big money and grand ambitions, ad technology firm The Rubicon Project has hired Allen & Company to help finance expansion and possible acquisitions.

Having a little "Jerry Maguire" moment, the ad tool provider issued a "manifesto" on Friday, in which it criticized the current leaders in the ad-server technology market for failing to measure up to its own "publisher-centric" standards.

"The balance in the marketplace today favors the demand-side, which has lead to significant price erosion for publishers," said Frank Addante, CEO and founder of the Rubicon Project. "This erosion threatens the sustainability of the ad-supported digital publishing business."

Although he didn't name names, it is widely understood that Addante is referring to Google's DoubleClick ad platform.

Calling the ad server dead, Addante continued: "Ad-serving technologies currently available to publishers of high-quality digital content are outdated, making it extremely difficult to effectively manage today's sales organizations."

Facing intense competition, Rubicon recently raised an additional $13 million -- of a total $42 million -- in venture funding to fuel various growth initiatives, including strategic acquisitions, research and development, infrastructure and international expansion.

A growing number of startups are competing to help Web publishers better manage ad networks offering to sell their leftover ad impressions.

Apart from DoubleClick, rivals like Pubmatic and AdMeld factor in pricing data, available inventory, and publisher guidelines to determine which ad network is sent an ad impression -- work that a publisher's sales force would otherwise be required to perform.

In an effort to address the broader issue of data fragmentation, The Rubicon Project recently acquired behavioral targeting data provider Others Online. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Fragmentation has made it difficult for (advertisers) to efficiently reach their audiences," said Addante, while "the recent growth in the number of data companies in the market has created fragmentation at the data level."

Based in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007. In the first quarter of 2009, the company reported 150% revenue growth over the fourth quarter of 2008.

The company's publisher clients include Gannett, Salon, Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive and American Greetings.