AppNexus Gets WPP Funds, Buys Xaxis OAS Platform

New York-based ad technology firm AppNexus has received $25m in funding from WPP, and in turn, has agreed to acquire the Open AdStream (OAS) ad serving platform from the marcoms giant's audience profiling and targeting division Xaxis.

AppNexus provides trading platforms for Internet advertising, claims to be 'the world's largest independent ad tech company' and is valued at $1.2 billion. With headquarters in New York City, it has additional operations in France, the UK, Australia and Singapore.

WPP's investment of $25m adds to the $85m in funding which AppNexus recently raised. According to WPP, the divestiture will allow Xaxis to focus software development on its own platform, including its Turbine DMP, analytics suite, and cross-channel optimization technology.

Brian O'Kelley (pictured), CEO of AppNexus, adds: 'Open AdStream has been one of the most effective and trusted ad serving platforms in the world for years. We're going to make it #1 in programmatic.'

Web sites: www.wpp.com , www.appnexus.com and www.xaxis.com .