Stoke Inc. is a mobile broadband solutions company that has raised $17 million in Series E funding. Stoke has raised a total of $92 million thus far. The full press release is below:

“Television media represents the largest percentage of advertisers and agencies’ media budget today,” stated Brian McAndrews, SVP of Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has opened up its wallet once again.  This time it’s not for the most trafficked search engine company.  Microsoft has acquired Navic Networks, a Waltham, Mass. -based company that designs & delivers advertisements to cable TV networks.  The price was undisclosed, but there is speculation about the price being $200-$300 million.

Previous investors in Navic include Himalaya Capital, Highland Capital Partners, FirstMark Capital, Pilot House Ventures, and Lauder Partners.  Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is also planning on entering the television advertisement foray through their AdWords program.

Clearly this is Microsoft’s way of becoming more competitive against Google.  Rather than building an TV advertising platform internally, just buy one.

Information Source:
[1] Microsoft Press Release: Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Navic Networks