• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, May 9, 2005

Eloqua Corporation, which provides business-to-business behavioral targeting services, recently closed on $5 million in venture funding from JMI Equity Fund, the company will announce today.

This infusion marks the first institutional investment in the company since it was founded five years ago, said Steve Woods, Eloqua's chief technological officer. He said the company will use the money to beef up sales and marketing as well as its technology.

Eloqua today also will announce that it has upgraded its analytics tool for clients who engage in business-to-business marketing, including companies such as Akamai, Marriott, and Nokia. The revision went live last week, after several months of beta testing, Woods said.

The Eloqua analytics service weeds out curious visitors from likely sales prospects by looking at demographic information and behavior on the clients' sites. For instance, registered visitors who identified themselves as IT directors might be categorized as potential purchasers. Also, the service combines e-mail marketing with analytics by coding marketing messages with tags that will identify recipients who click through to the Web site.