KIRSHENBAUM BOND SENECAL + PARTNERS LAUNCHES KBS+P VENTURES

New Investment Arm Backs Early Stage Entrepreneurs & Start-ups      
Opens Doors with First New Deal

NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ - kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners (kbs+p), a member of the MDC Partners network, announced today the launch of kbs+p Ventures, a new investment arm that backs early stage (Seed & Series A) entrepreneurs and startups in the areas of ad technologies, mobile, and consumer design 2.0 (large focus on UX/UI).  Startups who receive investment from kbs+p Ventures will receive funding as well as additional value in the form of access to the resources of kbs+p and sister agencies under the MDC Partners umbrella.       

As part of the launch, kbs+p Ventures is announcing its first new deal with Yieldbot, an on-demand realtime media intelligence platform. Yieldbot harvests and organizes visitor intent in digital media and makes the intent data actionable at the exact moment it is most valuable to advertisers and publishers - when it is being fulfilled.       

Kbs+p Ventures is the brainchild of Darren Herman, the shop's Chief Digital Media Officer, who will take on additional responsibility as Managing Director of Ventures. Herman is an active mentor of the early stage technology scene, and participates in programs dedicated to furthering entrepreneurship including: TechStars NY, First Growth Venture Network, and the Founder Institute. Since 1998, he has raised over $50MM+ in Venture Capital for his own ventures and has advised/participated in ventures that have collectively raised over $100MM.  In 2008, Herman, founded Varick Media Management, an MDC Partners company dedicated to audience driven digital media buys.       

"kbs+p is all about high velocity problem solving to create ideas, programs and products that deliver transformational business growth for clients," said Lori Senecal, president & CEO, kbs+p. "Darren is a career entrepreneur who has built VC-backed startups in the lofts of Manhattan and corporate startups like VMM for MDC within the walls of an advertising agency. Under his leadership, our investments in the early stage digital ecosystem through kbs+p Ventures will keep us at the forefront of technological innovation and create value for both our people and our clients."           

Darren Herman commented: "We think there is a big gap within the Venture community where check writing is almost a commonplace and commodity.  The investment check becomes table stakes and the value add comes from the person or organization behind the check. kbs+p Ventures is uniquely positioned here as we are a fully integrated shop who can offer our portfolio companies access to advice thru execution within PR, media, strategy, creative, and development resources.  We look forward to partnering with leading Venture Capital firms and successful angel investors on different deals and hope they reach out to add us to their syndicates."     

Jonathan Mendez, CEO, Yieldbot added, "Over the past five years or so, I've bumped into Darren at all different tech and advertising conferences. We struck up a friendship and when I started building YieldBot, he was one of the first people I met with to tell our story and he instantly understood it. We're excited to have him and his firm on board."

kbs+p Ventures links back to the kbs+p Client Stock Index launched in January 2010 and supports kbs+p's orientation of creating ideas that drive shareholder value for clients. Like KBSP.X, kbs+p management and employees will participate in the future growth and have a substantial share of any investment profits from kbs+p Venture deals.    

About kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners

kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners, a member of the MDC Partners Network, is a leading digitally integrated marketing communications firm headquartered in New York and Atlanta with offices in Toronto and Montreal. kbs+p provides expert counsel across the full range of practices including advertising, brand and product innovation, data & analytics, digital and direct marketing, eCRM, emerging technologies, event marketing, mobile, multicultural, public relations, promotions, IP, and social media marketing. The Media Kitchen, kbs+p's dedicated in-house media company, offers full-service, state-of-the-art media planning and buying capabilities, SEM and real-time web analytics. Kbs+p is proud to serve a blue chip roster of clients that includes BMW, Cablevision, Capital One, Church's Chicken, The Coca-Cola Company, HomeGoods, Levi Strauss & Co., and NetJets among others. For more information go to www.kbsp.com.      

About MDC Partners, Inc.
MDC is a Business Transformation Organization that utilizes technology, marketing communications, data analytics, insights and strategic consulting solutions to drive meaningful returns on Marketing and Communications Investments for multinational clients in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean. 

MDC's durable competitive advantage is to Empower the Most Talented Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders to Drive Business Success to new levels of Achievement, for both our Clients and our Shareholders, reinforcing MDC's reputation as "The Place Where Great Talent Lives." 

MDC Partners' Class A shares are publicly traded on  NASDAQ under the symbol "MDCA" and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDZ.A".

SOURCE kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners

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