Addante says Rubicon customer NBCU approached them with a strategic investment offer. “At the time, we felt we had enough operating capital. But then we looked at this, and decided, with the economy the way it is, it’s a good opportunity to roll up some other companies. It seemed to make sense to take in this funding and move on those acquisitions.” An NBCU source explained the investment: “Rubicon sits between publishers and ad networks and therefore collects tons of information. As a result, the promise that they can possibly double publishers’ CPMs is what made them attractive to us. They also they are well positioned to do lots of stuff to be determined down the line because of the information flow they sit in.” Aside from satisfying its hunger for more online data, NBCU and other publishers want companies that can make sense out of the surfeit of online audience information that’s available to them through a variety of companies.