Ad tech company Drawbridge raises $25 million to help it compete with Google and Facebook in one key area
When it comes to cross-device identification, Google and Facebook have a huge advantage over other ad tech companies: People log in to their services, frequently, on multiple devices. Other ad tech companies, lacking in this first-party data, have to rely on a complex web of deterministic modelling in order to correctly identify (anonymously) the audiences they want to target.
That's the area that Drawbridge specializes in: Helping brands correctly identify and measure the audiences they want to serve advertising to. There are also other applications of its identity graph beyond ad tech, such as website personalization and fraud detection.
Speaking to Business Insider over email, Drawbridge CEO Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, said the new capital will be used to grow the company's headcount but also help it expand into new areas and serve customers beyond their ad tech needs.
She added: "Drawbridge is the largest independent solution for anonymous identity and we're going to invest aggressively in all markets to continue to grow our position in terms of consumer and device coverage, as well as the number and diversity of customers. Our total addressable market is expanding, and every department is growing to meet these new needs."
Drawbridge currently has about 130 staff and it plans to grow this number to around 170 people by the end of the year.
The latest funding round brings the total outside investment in Drawbridge to date up to $45.5 million. The Series C round was led by Sequoia - an early investor in companies like Apple, Google, and WhatsApp - and the company's existing investors Northgate Capital, Caufield Byers, and Kleiner Perks also participated.
Drawbridge was listed as the fastest-growing female-led company in America in the Inc. 5000 last year.