• by Tanya Gazdik , September 15, 2008

Funded by Redpoint Ventures, BlueKai partners with data sellers to aggregate anonymous shopping and research behaviors, and auctions that data to drive monetization, enabling buyers to boost ad-targeting quality and scale.

By separating access of data from access of media, BlueKai enables advertisers, ad networks and publishers to buy and own online data to increase the scale and quality of in-market ad-targeting initiatives. The new company focuses on data including purchase-driven behaviors such as searches for auto, travel and product comparisons.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based company is headed by Omar Tawakol and a team of executives with decades of experience in online advertising, behavioral targeting and data mining.

Privately held BlueKai received $3.2 million in developmental capital in a round led by investor Redpoint Ventures--a high-tech venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management whose previous investments include MySpace, Right Media, Efficient Frontier, HomeAway and Gaia Online.

"BlueKai is creating a very valuable and unique data exchange that addresses some core challenges of a constrained online advertising industry--all in a privacy friendly way," said Chris Moore, a partner of Redpoint Ventures, in a statement. "This is the first time that in-market user data will be aggregated and qualified to produce audiences of true intenders. We are very excited by what Omar and his team have created."

BlueKai's business model brings three main innovations to the ever-evolving media landscape, according to Tawakol. "The first is to create an independent data-sharing marketplace that separates the access of data from the access of media," he said. "The second innovation is a market pricing system for data that manages yield for data sellers. The third is to make consumers an active partner in the online ecosystem."

In a privacy initiative, BlueKai will enable consumers to see the information that has been collected about them through BlueKai data providers. Via an online tool available at www.bluekai.com, consumers will have the ability to edit their online preferences or opt out completely. A forthcoming release is intended to provide additional features including the ability to "add" products or services consumers are in market for, resulting in more control and influence over the advertising they receive.

"Consumers are asking for control and transparency, and the BlueKai Registry is an online tool that gives them insight and edit control into what marketers know about them," Tawakol said.