Hiwire snags $9.5 million

Ad insertion company Hiwire says it has raised $9.5 million in its latest round of financing, bringing its total to $27.5 million. The Los Angeles-based company said the round included investments from Clear Channel Communications, New Enterprise Associates, Zone Ventures and Grey Ventures, a subsidiary of Grey Global. Hiwire said the funding would be used to improve its ad insertion technology as well as support its new media partners. In March, privately held Hiwire snagged $17 million from Grey Advertising and venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. It has also received $1 million from private investors. These investments follow Hiwire's January release of an advertising-friendly Internet radio "tuner" that the company says can effectively drop advertising into any audio stream sent over the Web.