eXelate takes $4M for twist on targeted advertising

eXelate is an exchange for publishers to swap ads based on subject areas. If a users visits a publisher’s site that’s related to another site they previously visited, ads relevant to the first site are shown.

For example, if you visited Toyota’s site then surfed over to an automotive forum, you might see an ad for the latest Prius.

Unlike other targeted advertising startups, eXelate doesn’t plan on tracking or storing any information about the users on its network.

The investment came from Carmel Ventures. TechCrunch’s Roy Carthy first reported the funding.

Here’s another description of the way the technology works, from VentureWire (subscription required):

The company offers an online advertising product called Delayed Ads. The Delayed Ad process starts when a user visits a site or does a search that is relevant to a certain vertical, such as travel or finance. The eXelate technology triggers a partner ad network to deliver a targeted Delayed Ad cookie. Later, when the ad network has an available ad space for the user, it recognizes the Delayed Ad cookie and delivers a relevant ad.

EXelate says it is being used by more than 15 ad networks. The company is based in New York and Israel.