Massive picks up funding as in-game ads evolve

In less than a year, Massive Inc. is making a play for leadership position in the nascent-but-growing area of companies providing the means to deliver in-game ads on the fly.

Since announcing its business model at last year's E3, the company has slowly bulked up by adding talent and venture capital to support its growth. Today, the New York City-based company announced a second major round of funding, with NeoCarta Ventures leading the $10 million Series C financing round.

Previous investors DFJ Gotham, DFJ New England, RRE Ventures, Tobat Capital, and Newlight Associates also participated.

Massive says it is currently working with eight game publishers as well as applying its ad-serving technology, one that sees dynamic insertion of ads via the Web, to more than 40 upcoming titles. It also announced an alliance with Nielsen Interactive Entertainment last December, wherein Nielsen will track effectiveness and reach of ads served to gamers on the Massive network.