Ever think your Facebook comments could be worth a lot of money? Israeli startup OpenWeb (formerly Spot.im) closed a $150 million Series E funding round, led by Insight Partners and Georgian Partners. The round was secured at a valuation of over $1 billion; meaning the company has now joined the not-so-exclusive-anymore Israeli Unicorn club.

An alternative to the social media monopoly

The startup’s commenting system has already been implemented in more than a few popular content sites, such as Fox News, The Times, AOL, Salon, TechCrunch, Yahoo, and according to the company it is “aiming to create an alternative to the social media networks…”

OpenWeb’s $150 million Series E round was led by Insight Partners and Georgian Partners, with participation from Omer Cygler, Harel, and Entrée Capital, strategic investors The New York Times Company, Dentsu and Samsung Next, as well as individual investor Professor Scott Galloway, who has joined the company’s Board of Directors. The company said that the current round will help expansion into additional verticals and brands. In addition, the company plans to adapt its products to the emerging change in the world of online advertising, including third-party cookies - which will allow you to surf the Internet in privacy and anonymously, just like Google's FLoC technology.

Founded by Nadav Shoval in 2012, OpenWeb has raised $220 million and has over 160 employees on staff in New York, Israel, and Kiev. The Israeli startup reports acquiring more than 100 million users monthly. "This Series E marks a big step forward in our mission to improve online conversations," said Nadav Shoval, co-founder and CEO of OpenWeb. "The future of a sustainable open web depends on the ability to facilitate safe experiences, while empowering destinations to build first-party data relationships with their audiences. We raised this round of investment to double down on our mission, and to bring those safer experiences to new verticals and new markets."