Seedtag adds another €250+ million to the feedbag, takes on America in earnest

Madrid-based Seedtag has raised over €250 million via Advent International, historical backers of names including McAfee and NielsenIQ. Last September the firm hauled in $40 million in a Series B round, aiding the startups’ usage of AI technologies to help brands with a range of contextual advertising solutions. 

The new leverage is expected to further scale these operations as Seedtag now sets its sight on the motherload: the American market. With offices already established in key locations such as New York, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles, co-CEO and co-founder Albert Nieto will be doubling down on the firm’s commitment by relocating to the states.

“This investment will massively accelerate our US expansion, boost our growth, and reinforce our team and the development of our technology. This move further supports our mission of building the global leading platform for contextual advertising, offering an effective solution for cookieless advertising on the open web,” commented co-founders and co-CEOs Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto in a joint statement.

With the continuing shift towards consumer privacy and GDPR rules, the third-party cookie that brands have relied on for years is on its way to becoming obsolete. This, of course, has left vendors with a new quandary to solve, how to still effectively target consumers, without leveraging the use of their browser history.

Herein lies the solution that is Seedtag. Working on a cookie-less ethos and using a proprietary machine-learning engine, in it calls LIZ, that can analyse 10,000 articles a minute and provide a human-like understanding. This analysis can then be translated into a better understanding of consumer interests, and thus, delivery of targeted advertising.

Already established as a specialist in Europe and Latin America, Seedtag has established relationships with brands including Universal and Adidas, agencies such as WPP and Havas, and premium publishers including the FT, The Guardian, and Sky, reaching a combined audience of over 500 million unique users.

“We are delighted to partner with Jorge and Albert as they continue to build on this momentum. With our international presence and deep sector expertise, Advent will work with the Seedtag management team to further expand the business internationally,” commented Advent’s managing director Gonzalo Santos. “We look forward to supporting this hugely exciting business to grow and scale up and to taking it to the next level.”

..... but not before spending a bit of team-building time at an offsite in Ibiza. And yes, they're hiring.