openads.jpgOpenads, the developer of a free, open source product that serves ads for Web sites has raised $5 million in a first round of financing led by Index Ventures.

Also participating are First Round Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. The London, UK company sells so-called adservers, which are used to serve and manage ads on the pages of Web sites

Often publishers rely on outside parties to serve their ads. We at VentureBeat do that, for example, relying on FM Publishing. By owning their own adserver, publishers can exert full control of their advertising campaigns.

Openads offer features such as targeting, inventory optimization, rich media and inventory forecasting. It boasts 20,000 publishers.

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