Criteo Crosses the $200 Million Threshold

Criteo, a pioneer in the development of search technologies for the display market, boosted revenues by 185% in the six months ended June 30, 2011, vaulting the company over the $200 million threshold in just three years. During the period, Criteo increased its renewal rate to 98%--meaning 98 out of 100 marketers that try Criteo now convert to its system—and attracted key managers to lead a global expansion starting with 10 countries. Overall, Criteo now employs more than 350 people in 20 countries across America, Europe and Asia.

Criteo’s growth indicates a shift in online marketing—namely, the emergence of a new category of search expansion. Mainstream e-commerce companies are using the Criteo platform to extend their search efforts using display ads that beckon shoppers back, with offers for products they recently looked at but didn’t buy. Consumers get a more productive online shopping experience; merchants get higher conversion rates, sales and profits.

Criteo delivered its first click to an advertiser in May 2008. Today, the company generates millions of leads every day. Merchants buy these leads on a cost-per-click basis the way they buy search, bidding by category on Criteo’s real-time system or via their own search engine marketing (SEM) systems. Criteo leads convert into sales at the same rate as SEM, so the company is measured on a pure performance basis. Nearly 50% of Criteo clients now give the company an unlimited budget to bring shoppers back with relevant ads.

“Many performance advertisers have saturated their existing SEM campaigns,” said JB Rudelle, CEO and co-founder of Criteo. ”They know they’re missing sales, but they can’t get more from traditional search. We’re giving them a supplemental channel with the same level of post-click performance. They get a huge boost to the bottom line that pays for itself.”

Simon Dupuy, Head of Online Advertising at Expedia, put it this way: “Criteo has proven to be a valuable way for Expedia to deliver targeted travel information which brings value for our customers and further enhances their trips. Ensuring that we are engaging our customers in a relevant manner is key for Expedia and the response we have seen from customers over the last year shows that Criteo shares our commitment.”

Criteo clients are increasing profitable sales significantly because the company improves several key components of performance marketing:

• Real-Time CPC Bidding self-service platform – Advertisers can set and modify CPC online 24/7 to immediately affect campaign performance, providing total campaign control.
• CPC Bidding by Category – CPC can be adjusted for each customized product category, allowing advertisers to optimize cost-of-sales by category.
• Turnkey banner production and real-time creative optimization. Criteo creates and serves relevant ads dynamically, incorporating a multitude of factors and offers.
• Compatible with major SEM software – Advertisers and agencies can access Criteo through designated tools, such as Marin Software or Kenshoo.
• Full API access – SEM agencies can integrate Criteo into their own bidding and tracking platform to perform complete funnel management and attribution.

This spring, Criteo attracted two advertising heavyweights to lead its worldwide expansion, beginning with 10 new markets throughout Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. In February, Max Ueno, former President and CEO of both DoubleClick Japan and Overture Japan, joined as managing director of the Asia-Pacific region. In April, the company tapped Greg Coleman, former Huffington Post President and Yahoo! EVP, for the new post of Global President, overseeing global business strategy (http://bit.ly/niAlT3).

Meanwhile, Criteo continued its investment in technology, recruiting more than 100 new engineers for its dedicated R&D center, CriteoLabs. The company plans on hiring another 200 people globally, across functions, in the second half of 2011.

About Criteo

Criteo expands the search budgets of the largest ecommerce advertisers across 20 countries. Every day Criteo generates millions of high-quality leads by serving relevant ads to people who have left clients’ websites without completing transactions. Criteo is measured purely on its post-click performance. Criteo offers a turnkey pay-per-click model including extensive real-time bidding tools, keyword level optimization and even an in-house creative studio. For more information, please visit http://www.criteo.com.