NYC-based Outbrain, a startup that lets users rate and receive blog recommendations, has raised a $5 million first round Gemini Israel Funds, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and GlenRock Israel, which has previously provided backing to the company. The company, founded by Yaron Galai, the co-founder of Quigo (sold to AOL), offers a widget that gives users personalized reading recommendations, in a bid to improve the signal-to-noise ratio for content consumers. In addition to its New York headquarters, Outbrain has an R&D center in Israel. The company competes against the likes of SezWho, CoComment, and many others. Release.