London adtech Ogury raises $50 million to grow its user-consent marketing engine across the globe

Ogury, the London-based digital marketing engine driven by customer consent, has raised $50 million to fuel expansion across Europe, the US, and APAC. Idinvest Partners and various banks participated in the round.

Founded in 2014, the UK Adtech startup set out to make mobile marketing something that is “understood, trusted, and valued by users and organisations.” The marketing engine can be simplified into three steps: require informed user consent to collect their data, provide actionable insight on those users and their consumer behaviour, and finally execute on this insight in a way that keeps the brand safe and the data free from fraud.

Thomas Pasquet, co-founder and co-CEO, said, “We have been GDPR compliant by design since Ogury’s launch in 2014 and are CCPA prepared. While many adtech companies have been negatively impacted by the regulations, our market-leading technology solutions have always been based on user informed consent. We have partnered with our brand, publisher and agency clients to deliver choice-driven advertising that adheres to the highest standards of data protection.”

Since launching in 2014, the company has grown rapidly, reaching $100 million in revenue in 2018, with an average annual growth rate of 120 percent. The company, profitable since year one, employs more than 400 people in 18 offices across Europe, the US and APAC.

Because of its consumer-choice model, Ogury has been well positioned to enter other markets where advertising and data privacy regulations are slowly coming into play. Pasquet continued, “The company saw the opportunity in the US, Latin America and APAC, and entered these key markets before any indication of potential regulations. As these markets are following Europe’s early move to enforce companies to become more stringent on consumer data privacy collection, management, storage and use, Ogury is uniquely able to provide brands, publishers and agencies technology and solutions to adhere to all privacy regulations and build consumer trust.”

The new funding will accelerate Ogury’s growth in the US, a key market for the company since 2016, and support Ogury’s expansion in new international markets.

Commenting on the investment, Benoist Grossmann of Idinvest Partners said: “The digital advertising world is going through its most challenging time given all the new regulations. Ogury’s consumer consent-driven model was ahead of the curve and they are in a vastly unique position to lead the next phase of its evolution. It’s often stated that money follows opportunity; we invested in Ogury for that reason, coupled with its stellar track record of growth and innovation.”