Sequoia Capital Invest in Kenshoo

Sequoia Capital , a well known VC fund with a substantial track record in the Internet industry has invested in Kenshoo, Search Engine Marketing Innovators from Tel Aviv, Israel, and is now a partner in the company. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, however given the strategic investment, Sequoia’s market positioning and the synergy between parties, one should expect a major leap for Kenshoo and a much higher profile in the global marketplace. 

Kenshoo launches Kazaam SEM platfrom

Kenshoo  search marketing technology start-up from Israel are launching their innovative PPC management platform - Kazaam. 

Yesterday I met Andrey Shirben of Kenshoo.com and had the opportunity to see the system in Real time action. As many other SEM advertisers, I became used to spending hours on keyword research and manual bid management. Checking campaign stats is something I do several times a day. Adding keywords, changing bids and deleting non performing keywords is something that I do - manually - on a daily basis.

The Kenshoo concept is that their platform will change all that and make everything run on autopilot. The idea is that everything is automatically managed through the API from one central HQ - i.e. no more separate log-ins to Google Adwords, MSN Adcenter or YSM Panama.

 Kazaam has the ability to compose a relevant long tail keyword list from multiple sources,  Locate competitor ads and combine the good part of them to make a new ad, detect click fraud IPs in real time via its proxy server, and - most importantly - manage bids dynamically according to predefined bidding rules. 

For example: A conversion transaction value is set at $30 – the system can be set to lower particular keyword bids by $0.05 as soon as the spend on such keyword has reached $10. Lower it again by another $0.03 as soon as  spending has reached $25, and – either increase bid back to par if a conversion has been registered - or delete the keyword completely if no conversion has been made. A single Campaign Manager can use the platform to do this across fifty campaigns with thousands of keywords in each simultaneously.

The Kazaam reporting module has all standard reports as well as some unique innovations – e.g. Geo ROI report (using each click’s IP origin) - providing the ability to see which countries or regions turn a profit and which actually lose money – still not possible on Google Adwords itself.

According to Andrey, Kazaam was built for heavy duty users such as leading agencies and large affiliates or affiliate junctions. It is a cross channel flexible platform capable to adopt and accomodate any Search Engine Marketing operation. 

Kenshoo itself is a global company with a foothold in the US, Europe and China. The system is already used by several leading Agencies – McCann Erickson (Digital) and Adler Chomsky – a Grey Interactive Affiliate, as well as by several undisclosed leading internet merchants all with complex multi channel PPC campaigns. Rumors suggest that Kenshoo is planning a white label operation – which is under negotiations these days.

Kenshoo will be in Ad:tech San Francisco (Boot 6476) on April 24-26, 2007. Agencies in need of a cutting edge platform solution should contact them via email to set a meeting to test their system.