OwnerIQ, Jay Habbeger, Atlas Venture

OwnerIQ Raises $2 Million for User Manual Archive

Wade Roush 10/30/07

Newton, MA-based OwnerIQ, formerly known as Most Effective Media, announced today that it has raised $2 million in venture backing from Atlas Venture, the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, and Common Angels. The company has built a network of websites containing user manuals for hundreds of brands and models of consumer devices, from microwave ovens to car stereos; it monetizes traffic to the sites through what it calls “ownership targeting.” Explains CEO Jay Habegger: “We take a common consumer frustration—looking for user manuals and other self support literature—and make that stuff easy to find. And by virtue of the fact that you’re looking for a manual on your stove or your camera, we know that your household has a particular device, and through our registration model we know how to reach you. If we aggregate that enough times over a particular product type, we can create ownership-targeted media campaigns for advertisers.” Habegger is also an investor in Xconomy, through Common Angels.

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at (617) 252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wroush.