Also investing for the first time were Yahoo! Inc. Japan, SAP Ventures and Adams Street Partners LLC, while Bessemer Venture Partners and other existing investors, including Index Ventures, Elaia Partners and additional venture firms from France and elsewhere also stepped up to the plate.

Criteo, which raised $7 million in 2010 and a further $17 million in previous rounds, said it would use the money to support its "hyper-growth trajectory."

"In a period of high growth for Criteo, this new financing enables us to invest substantially in innovation, technology and people," Criterio CEO and co-founder Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, said in a statement.

While predictions of spectacular growth should always be taken with a grain of salt, people close to the company say Criteo has developed very fast since it was founded in 2005, and especially since it moved its operations from Paris to Palo Alto, Calif., two years ago.

The company maintains its registered office in Paris, recently opened a 100,000-square-foot research and development center in the city, and brought most of the venture investors and their legal representatives to the French capital to sign the closing documents. But the move into the U.S. market has created a new momentum and could eventually lead to an initial public offering once the market for Internet company flotations recovers from its post-Facebook malaise.

While the current funding round values Criteo at around €600 million, the valuation at the time of the Series C funding in 2010 was just €100 million. The people close to the company believe it could exceed €900 million as it considers a possible trade sale or IPO next year.

Criteo, which says it has been profitable since 2009, now serves more than 3,000 advertisers worldwide, with the U.S. being the biggest revenue-generating market. Criteo recently announced an exclusive partnership with Yahoo! Japan to enable personalized display advertising across the Yahoo! Japan website. It is looking to Softbank and Yahoo! to help it expand in Asia.

Geoffroy Pineau-Valencienne of Jones Day in Paris represented Criteo. Softbank was represented by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC were legal counsel to Adams Street. Hayden Bergmann PC represented SAP Ventures, and Shawn Atkinson of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP represented Bessemer.