• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, June 2, 2008

Tremor Media has received an undisclosed investment from the European Founders Fund (EFF) to help fund the online video network's expansion into Europe.

Separately, the company named Mark Pinney, formerly head of business planning at AOL's Platform A, as its first chief financial officer.

In addition to providing funding, the EFF will advise Tremor in its push into the U.K., Germany, France and Italy. The venture capital firm invests in early-stage Internet and mobile companies, and has previously backed startups moving into Europe including social network Facebook and LinkedIn.

Tremor CEO Jason Glickman said the EFF would help the company make contacts in the online media and advertising industries in Europe and accelerate its entry into the continent's fast-growing online video markets.

Tremor cites eMarketer data, for instance, showing that 30% of U.K. Internet users watched online video last year--up from only 8% in 2006. In Germany, 71% of the adult Internet population has watched Web video, while 90% of the French online audience ages 15 to 49 had seen at least one video ad in May 2007.

"Online video has gotten very big in the U.S. and it has the ability to do the same in Europe," said Glickman, whose company is initially targeting the U.K. and Germany for expansion. In the U.S., Tremor serves video ads across a network of some 800 mostly mid-tier sites representing more than 101 million unique visitors per month.

The company raised $11 million in a second-round venture financing in January led by Canaan Partners and Masthead Venture Partners. That funding brought the company's total investment to $19.4 million, excluding the EFF financing.

Along with its international expansion, the hiring of online veteran Pinney as CFO underscores Tremor's maturation as a business. Prior to becoming head of business planning for Platform A last fall, he served as CFO for behavioral targeting company Tacoda, which was acquired by AOL in 2007.

Pinney was among a group of former Tacoda executives who left AOL in April following the ouster of Platform A President and ex-Tacoda CEO Curt Viebranz in March. Pinney also co-founded online ad company Real Media 1995 with Dave Morgan, who went on to start Tacoda in 2001.

"His experience working with publishers, advertisers, finance and leading developing companies through critical growth stages will be a tremendous asset to our company as we accelerate our plans for expansion into new markets," said Glickman. "I feel like we got a major catch."

Tacoda had formed a partnership with Tremor in 2006 to provide behaviorally targeted in-stream video ads, but that relationship ended following Tacoda's acquisition by AOL.