Money keeps pouring into online ad networks - Specific Media raises $100 mln

When Google, Microsoft and Yahoo earlier this year made their big acquisitions on online advertising, they threw a lot of money at DoubleClick, aQuantive and RightMedia, respectively.

Today comes more news that the party hasn't stopped, with Specific Media raising a $100 million B round led by Francisco Partners. The company's ad network is the third-largest ranked by comScore, according to the release.

It's one of the 20 largest tech growth investments made this year, said Specific Media, which was advised on the deal by the investment bank Piper Jaffray. 

On top of that, Kara Swisher at AllThingsD.com reports that AOL may be trying to buy Quigo for $300 million. Quigo specializes in selling ads for vertically-focused sites like Forbes.com that can charge a premium thanks to their desirable user demographics.

All this illustrates a rule that when the big players like Google and Microsoft have to bid against each other for desirable properties, they raise the stakes for those properties smaller rivals as well.