WhenU.com, Inc., a leading provider of software-based contextual online advertising, announced today that it secured $15M million of Series A funding from Trident Capital, a leading private equity firm focused on investments in the business services, information services and software sectors across a wide variety of industries. Trident Capital's investment in WhenU follows $20M in funding secured earlier this year from ABS Capital Partners.

The funds will be used to continue product development and provide working capital.

INFO SOURCES

FIRMS

WhenU is an established force in software-based contextual advertising and the industry leader in best practices. Its products include adware, branded toolbars and integrated contextual and behavioral products that enable many Fortune 500 companies to reach consumers with the right message at the right moment without compromising users' privacy or security. WhenU's unique advertising technology distinguishes itself from existing approaches by applying precision logic at the desktop level. From the desktop, WhenU software examines keywords, URLs and search terms currently in use on the opted-in consumer's browsers and then presents highly relevant advertising and services. WhenU does not harvest any data about users or their online activities; behavioral data remains encrypted on the user's machine. WhenU is headquartered in New York City and has offices in San Francisco and Toronto.

Trident Capital is a leading venture capital and private equity firm with over $1.5 billion of capital under management, including $400 million raised in its recently closed Fund VI. Trident's core investment focus has remained consistent since inception in 1993. The firm focuses on investments in the business services, information services and software sectors across a variety of industries. Within its sector focus, Trident invests across multiple stages, including traditional venture capital investing as well as investments in micro-cap public companies, buyouts and consolidation platforms. The firm has made over 100 investments since inception. Trident has investment offices in Palo Alto, CA and Westport, CT.

ABS Capital Partners is a private equity firm that was founded in 1990 to invest in mid- to later-stage growth companies in order to create significant, market-leading companies. The firm's investment strategy focuses on companies in the healthcare, technology, business services and media and communications sectors. Its investment professionals partner with strong management teams to help build businesses with substantial revenues, near-term profitability and solid customer bases. The firm has created long-term value for management and investors. ABS Capital Partners leverages over 100 years of combined investing and operating experience among its partners and provides a range of investment structures, including expansion financings, management buyouts and recapitalizations. With an extensive history and knowledge of equity and mergers and acquisitions markets, ABS Capital Partners provides strategic guidance and helps companies to capitalize on their business opportunities. ABS Capital Partners has $1.5 billion under management and nine investing partners within offices in Baltimore, San Francisco and Boston. Over the past twelve years, ABS Capital Partners has backed industry leaders including AMISYS Managed Care Systems Corporation (now McKesson Corporation), American Radio Systems Corp, Corporate Express, Inc. (a Buhrmann company), DoubleClick, Inc., OTG Software, Inc. (now Legato Systems, Inc.), @Road, Inc. and Transition Systems, Inc. (now Eclipsys Corp.)

BOARD/MANAGEMENT

Venetia Kontogouris, a managing director at Trident, joins WhenU's Board of Directors