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

Inuvo, a developer of predictive modeling for performance-based online advertising, said Tuesday that it has raised $4.2 million in an offering of shares. The company plans to use the newly available funds to integrate "decision science technology" into its existing affiliate and search marketing platforms.

Formerly known as Kowabunga, Florida-based Inuvo launched its core platform in beta last August, which lets advertisers and publishers connect directly on search, affiliate, lead generation and email efforts.

One of Inuvo's key selling points is its transparency, which allows advertisers to manage their relationships directly, according to Jeremy Chrysler, SVP of Inuvo's Exchange Business Segment.

"Through this approach, we address the frustrations and improve the performance within the affiliate marketplace," said Chrysler, adding, "Rather than working with dozens of networks to get leads, we thought advertisers and publishers should talk directly."

Today, the company operates as two business segments: Exchange and Direct. The Exchange Segment provides performance-based marketing and technology services to advertisers and publishers, while the Direct Segment develops and sells direct-to-consumer programs that are distributed through the Exchange Segment.

Going forward, Inuvo plans to make its platform accessible through a set of data APIs for advertisers, publishers and developers to build their own applications, including fraud detection, order abandonment recovery, mobile stats, yield optimization tools and much more.

Inuvo owns and operates several products and properties within various distribution channels, including Babytobee.com -- a marketing platform targeting pre- and postnatal moms; and Yellowise.com -- a consumer-facing local business directory site, powered by LocalXML technology.