[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Small and medium-sized businesses are expected to benefit from the launch of a new Web monitoring and measurement tool, Hitwise.

The launch of the service follows a AUS $6.35 million (US $3.81 million) round of capital raising by parent company Sinewave, owners of online marketing agency Sinewave Interactive and popularity-based search engine Top100.

Sinewave said the capital raised would accelerate the growth of Sinewave's three core businesses and fund its international expansion into Asia and Europe.

Executive director Andrew Barlow said the investment was significant given the uncertainty surrounding the technological and online sector.

"Hitwise is succeeding because it is different from anything else available on the market," siad Barlow. "It provides real-time business information about online performance that was previosuly only available to the top companies."

Hitwise works by providing an indication of the relative popularity of Web sites based on a measure of page impressions from a range of ISP proxy servers in Australia. Currently, Hitwise is analyzing traffic from over one million Australian Internet users and more than 45,000 Australian and international Web sites per day, the company said.

Small and medium-sized businesses are expected to be the main users of the site, but it is also expected to attract media planners, advertising agencies, venture capitalists, financial analysts, business consultants and the media.

Companies currently using Hitwise include seek.com.au, employment.com.au, aussie.com.au, insurance.com.au, theLounge.com.au, Zivo, Dun and Bradstreet, the Commonwealth Bank, EMI Music, gradlink, the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business' site jobsearch.gov.au, the Penrith Panthers and Nickleodeon.