Octopus Investments has been joined by existing investor Notion Capital in the backing of advertising technology start-up Adbrain.
The business, which has developed a platform for programmatic mobile and multiscreen audience buying, is banking $7.5 million (£4.5 million) through the transaction.
Having only launched its beta platform in February 2014, Adbrain has signed up the likes of M&C Saatchi Mobile and Omnicom Media Group Europe division Annalect as clients.
According to the company, Adbrain’s technology allows users to identify consumers which are using different devices such as a smartphone or PC so that consistent adverts are delivered. Its platform includes automated advertising developments such as real-time bidding and programmatic audience buying.
Gareth Davies, CEO of Adbrain, says that the start-up’s funding success is down to creating a ‘truly transparent’ advertising platform in an industry which is used to black-box and managed-service services.
‘This funding will further establish our authority in the space both in Europe and the USA,’ he adds.
‘In particular, it’s an honour to be welcomed into the Octopus “club” and join a number of incredibly innovative and game-changing companies who are busy changing the face of their respective industries.’
More on investments by Octopus:
- Secret Escapes and Zoopla backer invests in Affectv
- Top up capital for Octopus portfolio company Metrasens
- TrialReach adds Octopus to list of investors
The $7.5 million funding round follows a seed funding deal dating back to June 2013, which saw Notion Capital support the technology business alongside mobile and digital ad-technology angels.
New investor Octopus has a portfolio including Zoopla, Secret Escapes and YPlan and, as part of the wider Octopus Investments group, has in excess of £3 billion of assets under management.
Frederic Lardieg, member of the Ventures team at Octopus, comments, ‘The ad-technology space is a multi-billion dollar market and continues to experience significant growth.
‘Combine this with the highly-motivated and impressive team behind Adbrain and it is clear that this is a company that is set to make waves.’
