Spark's Koyfman Looking For The Next Winner In Advertising Monetization

Spark's New VC Koyfman, Like Everyone Else, Looking For The Next Winner In Advertising

Boston-based VC firm Spark Capital has already made plenty of bets on tech and media companies that plan to use advertising for some or all of their revenue, including Veoh, KickApps, I'minlikewithyou, 5min, Twitter, and Tumblr. One problem: The advertising business hasn't caught up to many of the startups, who find themselves light on revenue or unburdened by it altogether.

Enter Spark's newest partner, former IAC exec Moshe "Mo" Koyfman, who says he's on the hunt for interesting companies that can help move the online ad business beyond Google.

"There's been lots of innovation on the content and media side," he says, "but we've yet to see some of the innovation required to monetize appropriately."

Web video is one of the fields that could desperately use better revenue generators, and no one knows that better than Koyfman, whose last job was running IAC's (IACI) Connected Ventures, including video sharing site Vimeo.

Koyfman says at Spark, he'll be looking for companies that have a unique or scalable approach to making ad money better "in a market that has shown dramatically how to lower costs of creation, but not monetization."