• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 5, 2011

Mobile ad network Jumptap has raised $25 million in a funding round led by Redpoint Ventures and including prior investors AllianceBernstein, General Catalyst, Summerhill Ventures, Valhalla Partners and WPP. That brings the company's total raised to nearly $100 million to date.

The Cambridge, Mass-based company said it would use the new capital to accelerate growth through product and technology development and increased staffing to meet client demand. It has added 35 employees already this year, including Regina Sebring as vice president of publishing partnerships and Jared Hand as vice president of sales.

Jumptap's ad network reaches a monthly audience of 83 million, up 30% from last year. In April, it handled more than 10 billion ad requests. To put that in perspective, however, Google-owned mobile ad network AdMob said at the start of the year it was receiving 2 billion requests a day. Still, Jumptap is likewise benefiting from a rapidly growing U.S. mobile ad market, which eMarketer expects to grow nearly 50% to $1.1 billion this year.

The purchase of rival mobile ad network Greystripe by online marketing giant ValueClick for $70 million in April highlighted continuing interest from larger Internet and technology players in expanding into mobile advertising via acquistion. As one of the remaining independent mobile ad networks, Jumptap has been viewed as a possible takeover target since Google acquired AdMob in 2009 and Apple bought Quattro Wireless last year.

Expanding its international presence, the company in late 2010 entered into a partnership with Cyber Communications Inc., the digital arm of ad giant Dentsu Group, to provide CCI with mobile ad technology in return for a strategic investment in Jumptap. "We are well positioned to capitalize on the momentum in the mobile marketplace and continue to see impressive growth across all measures," said Jumptap CEO George Bell, who joined the company last year from investor General Catalyst, in a statement.