ALMI Invest is a venture capital company which invests in Swedish companies with exciting, scalable business models and motivated entrepreneurs. ALMI Invest consists of eight regionally based venture capital funds, all with local offices and experienced local investment managers. We manage a total of SEK 1 billion. Unlike most venture capitalists, we can invest in a wide range of businesses. A strong team of entrepreneurs, a scalable business model and an initial revenue stream are more important than the line of business when we invest. Our first, initial investment would typically be SEK 2-4 million. During the lifetime of an investment, sums of up to SEK 10 million can be ventured. We always syndicate with an investment partner (another venture capitalist or angel investor) from Sweden or otherwise which means that we can take a maximum of 50 percent of an investment round. ALMI Invest was founded in 2009 by ALMI Fretagspartner together with regional investors. Half of our capital comes from European Union structural funds, which accounts for an investment of SEK 500 million. The other 50 per cent comes from regional investors and ALMI Fretagspartner.

Almi Invest

Our DNA. Most people don’t like change. We get that. It’s uncomfortable, scary and hard work. But change is the price we pay for progress. Without it, good never becomes great. Fire, vaccines and space travel. All thanks to humans’ willingness to adapt and unwillingness to settle. That “Push-Forwardness” is part of who we are. The Wellstreet DNA. It’s how we turn ideas into startups. Small businesses into big players. And players into legends. We get up in the morning to set comfort zones on fire. Rip old ways into a million new pieces. And start over... over and over again. We’re building a tomorrow unlike yesterday. A place full of innovation, ideas and opportunities. A better world. We believe that good things come to those who don’t wait. To those who keep pushing, Forever Forward.  Wellstreet exist to build and accelerate the innovations and entrepreneurs of today, leading to a better and sounder tomorrow. We believe in challenging the status quo and doing things differently. We have been part of creating successes like Tibber, DanAds, Regily, Scrive, and roughly 35 more. To enhance value propositions and disrupt verticals as a very early-stage investor we have created a purpose built ecosystem to support our portfolios.

Wellstreet

We support early stage entrepreneurs and help them accelerate their growth. Throughout the investment process, we collaborate with founders to gain understanding of their unique needs – defining the success of each company. We look for opportunities that have an impact on people’s lives, such as renewable energy and medical solutions, but we're tech- and industry agnostic. With our background, we can help commercialise innovative ideas and develop seed and Series A companies. Our ticket sizes range from 50k-500k USD.

Forward Venture Capital

Kichi Invest is a private investment company that primarily invests in unlisted Nordic companies seeking growth capital. The company has a broad investment mandate and is open to discussions with passionate entrepreneurs or owners seeking an active partner to grow their business. IT believes that an active partner provides the best basis for growth. The company's philosophy is based on complementing capable entrepreneurs with broad expertise from strategy, transactions, and navigating through the challenges of a rapidly growing business.

Kichi Invest

DanAds

DanAds is a white label self-serve Ad-desk for a publishers small and medium advertisers. The Ad-desk plugs straight into a publishers own ad server, CRM, and payment systems. When the company partners with a publisher, it inputs the branding, advertising inventory, and pricing structure, to create a live self-service Ad-desk within only a few weeks. The company's main client base consists of global enterprise publishers and brands, with customers such as Bloomberg Media, Tripadvisor, Hearst, Expedia Group, Klarna, Freestar, and Philips. DanAds was founded in 2013, based on the belief that transparency between advertisers and publishers is necessary to increase engagement, revenue, and future scalability.

<div>DanAds is an AdTech platform specializing in developing self-serve, white-label ad server solutions for small and medium-scale enterprise (SME) publishers. Founded in Sweden, the firm provides both custom enterprise solutions and off-the-shelf solutions to automate publishers' tasks including automated billing and refunds, ad approvals, real-time inventory availability checks, and automated reporting. The firm also has an in-house marketing solution where it creates private ad channels for the exclusive use of a firm's marketing team. The firm builds its ad server infrastructure and operates on Amazon&rsquo;s cloud (AWS), enabling it to fully integrate its platform with customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), demand-side ad platform (DSP), and other systems.&nbsp;</div>

Using AI to automate, enhance and optimize marketing activities

Marketing Automation

Wimt announces their collaboration with DanAds to develop a self-serve advertising platform

<div>
 
 DanAds is an AdTech platform specializing in developing self-serve, white-label ad server solutions for small and medium-scale enterprise (SME) publishers. Founded in Sweden, the firm provides both custom enterprise solutions and off-the-shelf solutions to automate publishers' tasks including automated billing and refunds, ad approvals, real-time inventory availability checks, and automated reporting. The firm also has an in-house marketing solution where it creates private ad channels for the exclusive use of a firm's marketing team. The firm builds its ad server infrastructure and operates on Amazon&rsquo;s cloud (AWS), enabling it to fully integrate its platform with customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), demand-side ad platform (DSP), and other systems.&nbsp;
 
 
 In November 2023, DanAds launched 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23549">
 Nine Ad Manager
 </a>
 , a&nbsp; new service provides SMEs in Australia with an AI-enabled advertising platform specifically for video content.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 As of April 2022, the firm's clients include global publishers and brands like The Washington Post, Roku, SoundCloud, Tripadvisor, and the Expedia Group.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and Financials
 
 
 In April 2022. DanAds obtained a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9766">
 EUR 8 million (~USD 8.6 million) loan
 </a>
 from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to further grow its platform. In December 2021, the firm raised EUR 10.2 million (~USD 11 million) in a venture capital round, with a post-money valuation of EUR 64.4 million (~USD 69.5 million), more than doubling its value compared to its previous funding round in April 2021. The firm also stated in December 2021 that it planned to be publicly listed within the following 12&ndash;18 months.
 
 
 In 2021, the firm reported a 500% growth in the total value of ad bookings made through its platform and expected to reach a revenue of EUR 41 million (~USD 45 million) by 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Outbrain is an algorithm-based content recommendation and discovery platform that curates native advertising content from the open web, providing personalized content for brands to increase customer engagement. Outbrain&rsquo;s customers include leading news media outlets such as CNN, MSN, and Sky News, serving more than a billion monthly users (by September 2021). Outbrain also allows content publishers to amplify its reach by supplying content to the platform. As of September 2021, customers could access 7,000+ online content sources including content by the Washington Post, Guardian, and BBC.&nbsp;
 
 
 Outbrain has been a pioneer in the content recommendation space and was the first to introduce an algorithm-based content recommendation in 2008. It was also the first to introduce a self-service platform for content recommendation in 2012. Outbrain has made a series of acquisitions over the years while making enhancements to its product offerings. In May 2021, it tested &ldquo;QualityRatings,&rdquo; a tool that implements quality guidelines for the content featured on its platform while using machine learning and AI to create a more personalized user experience. In April 2022, Outbrain&rsquo;s platform was 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9907">
 integrated with ID5
 </a>
 to provide a privacy-first customer identification solution. In September 2022, the firm launched 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13122">
 Keystone
 </a>
 , a business optimization solution for publishers. In November 2021, 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6992">
 Outbrain acquired vi
 </a>
 , a contextual video intelligence platform for USD 55 million to grow it's CTV and other display ads offerings. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Outbrain&rsquo;s revenue model is structured as a &ldquo;pay per click&rdquo; model with the revenue being shared with publishers of the content. In FY 2022, the firm 
 reported a revenue of USD 992.1 million (a 2% YoY dip). For the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16860">
 full year of 2023E,
 </a>
 the firm expected to achieve a minimum Ex-TAC gross profit of USD 237 million and generate an adjusted EBITDA of at least USD 28 million. 
 
 
 Outbrain was listed on the NASDAQ in July 2021, where it raised USD 160 million at a valuation of USD 1.25 billion. Ahead of its listing, Outbrain also raised USD 200 million in the form of senior subordinated secured notes from Baupost Group. Since then the firms share price has fallen steeply, and as of July 2022 the firm was&nbsp; worth USD 300 million, equivalent to a ~75% drop in its value. In response, Outbrain is reported to have 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11880">
 shed ~3% of its total workforce
 </a>
 . 
 
</div>

Outbrain

<div>
 
 Marin Software is an adTech firm offering a suite of solutions for brands looking to conduct search, social media, and ecommerce advertising. The firm&rsquo;s &ldquo;MarineOne&rdquo; solution enables Brands to integrate their data under a single platform; coupled with machine learning tools, marketers can optimize ad spending across multiple platforms. In the case of search and social media advertising, Brands can increase their visibility across a number of search engines and social media platforms including Google, Facebook, and Apple Search Ads.&nbsp;
 
 
 In recent years the firm has been making enhancements to transform its Marine One Software as a complete marketing campaign management &amp; intelligence solution. In line with the firm expanded its ecommerce advertising solution capabilities by increasing the number of integrations to include Criteo&rsquo;s commerce media platform and Instacart&rsquo;s advertising platform. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12159">
 2022
 </a>
 , the firm rolled out a number of new product and features including 1) MarinOne bidding, the firm's ad bidding marketplace, 2) MarinOne support, to enable advertisers to improve ad performance with multi-edit ad scheduling solutions, 3) social rules engine, to help automate workflows, and 4) 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15019">
 Budget Optimizer
 </a>
 , an ad budget management solution. More 
 recently, in April 2023, the firm introduced an automation tool 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17565">
 &ldquo;MarinOne Scripts,&rdquo;
 </a>
 which integrates Python scripting with its MarineOne platform, providing marketers with customized and data-driven solutions to optimize campaigns.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 As of October 2021, several brands from varied industries, including Nissan, American Eagle outfitters, and Harmony, use the firm&rsquo;s solutions.
 
 
 In 2021, the firm made a number of new initiatives in 2021, including an 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7635">
 integration with Amazon Ads
 </a>
 and a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6973">
 partnership with CitrusAd 
 </a>
 to expand the ecommerce capabilities of its platform. More recently, in January 2023, the company announced an 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16172">
 integration with Yahoo
 </a>
 to broaden access to programmatic ad content. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Marin Software was listed on the NASDAQ in March 2013, raising USD 105 million and was valued at USD 432 million. However, since then the firm has been experiencing a decline in performance; in 2022, the firm recorded a revenue of 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16613?industryIds=62">
 USD 20 million (a 18% YoY drop)
 </a>
 compared to the ~USD 100 million revenue in 2016. The reasons analysts cite for this are 1) weaknesses in its search advertising model and 2) not selling digital ads, which is a growth area for lead generation firms.&nbsp;
 
 
 
</div>

Marin Software

<div>
 
 Founded in China, Terminus claims to have the first account-based marketing (ABM) platform that unifies the marketing and sales teams&rsquo; roles under a single platform. Terminus specializes in B2B marketing and, according to the firm, its &ldquo;Terminus Data Studio&rdquo; has one of the largest B2B account databases, which by September 2021, covered more than 70 million businesses. Terminus&rsquo;s customer data platform (CDP) is fully integrated with its marketing automation platform, through which teams can run multi-channel targeted campaigns across many channels including email, ad networks, live chat, and the web. This can then be analyzed with Terminus&rsquo; suite of analytics and attribution tools. In March 2023, the firm 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17406">
 launched Prospect Engine,
 </a>
 a new data solution, to help users identify high-quality accounts and contacts displaying buying signals. 
 By September 2021, Terminus served more than 1,000 customers, including Salesloft, Foundry, and Quantum Workplace.
 
 
 According to a study done by Forrester (in Q2 2020), Terminus has been recognized among the ABM platform leaders. 
 
 
 Through a series of acquisitions, Terminus has transformed into a marketing cloud platform offering a range of services. Its two latest acquisitions took place within 12 months. In November 2020, it acquired Growflare, a lead generation and account-based intelligence platform catering to B2B startups, followed by B2B CDP Zylotech in September 2021. Terminus hoped to capitalize on these to build the most comprehensive ABM platform on the market.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Terminus raised USD 50 million in debt financing from CIBC innovation banking in November 2021. The funding was used to support international expansion, product development, and further acquisitions. In February 2021 when it raised USD 90 million in Series C funding, it was valued at approximately USD 400 million.
 
</div>

Terminus

<div>
 
 Founded in France, Brevo 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18241">
 (formerly Sendinblue)
 </a>
 began as an email marketing automation platform catering to small and medium-scale businesses (SMB). It has since extended its services to become an all-in-one marketing platform catering to 300,000+ customers across 180 countries by end December 2022. The range of services found on Brevo&rsquo;s platform includes email and SMS marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, landing page creation, and Facebook ad management, among others. In November 2022, the firm launched an 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14388">
 integrated meetings solution
 </a>
 that brings together scheduling, video conferencing, and payment solutions. In March 2023, the company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17462">
 unveiled &ldquo;Conversations&rdquo;
 </a>
 to manage customer conversations across messaging channels in one centralized location.
 
 
 Brevo&rsquo;s platform is compared with other well-known competitors such as Mailchimp and Hubspot and is commended for its live support and fair pricing, making it a strong contender in the SMB space.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company has expanded its product offering through a series of acquisitions during 2021-2022. Brevo acquired three firms in September 2021 for USD 47 million: 1) Metrilo, a provider of customer analytics and marketing services for ecommerce stores, 2) Chatra, a live chat messenger app for increasing online sales, and 3) PushOwl, a customer re-engagement website that uses web-based push notifications. In March 2022, the firm 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9009">
 acquired MeetFox
 </a>
 , a meeting scheduling and video conferencing platform. In September 2022, the company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13360">
 acquired Yodel.io,
 </a>
 an Austrian cloud-based phone system provider, to enable additional customer touchpoints, and reduce the overall digital marketing spend for SMBs. In February 2023, the firm 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16271?industryIds=62">
 acquired Captain Wallet,
 </a>
 a mobile wallet marketing platform, to broaden its reach internationally. In December 2023, 
 Brevo
 acquired 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24833">
 WonderPush and Octolis,
 </a>
 two customer interaction platforms, to expand its CRM capabilities.
 &nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials&nbsp;
 
 
 Brevo raised USD 160 million in its Series B round in September 2020 with participation from Bridgepoint, Bpifrance, Blackrock, and Partech. The firm planned to utilize the funds to increase its presence in the US, where it has experienced a 100% YoY growth since 2018. 
 
 
 The firm achieved 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15834">
 USD 100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
 </a>
 at the end of 2022 while maintaining a positive EBITDA position.&nbsp;
 
</div>

Brevo

Acquia provides a digital experience platform (DXP) to support medium to large enterprises that use Drupal, an open-source content management system (CMS) that provides the back-end infrastructure for websites and by September 2021, powered approximately 2.1% of websites on the internet. The core product offered by Acquia is a marketing cloud that provides a full suite of services to manage the customer journey. The platform features a customer data platform (CDP), unifying data across multiple sources; sales automation tools to deliver personalized marketing campaigns across multiple delivery channels; marketing campaign management tools to manage distributed marketing teams; and a content management platform to organize and monitor content.Having been built on the Drupal framework, which does not require any programming skills to implement, Acquia’s marketing cloud claims to be more accessible and agile than enterprise cloud solutions provided by incumbents such as Adobe and Oracle. In 2021, Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report named Acquia a leader in DXP platforms, while a study done by Forrester (in July 2021) found that customers of Acquia’s DXP solutions experienced a payback on their investment in less than six months, generating an average return on investment (ROI) of 589% over three years.Acquia has made several investments and enhancements to its DXP platform. In January 2021, Acquia, in partnership with Commercetools and Lucidworks, launched “Acquia Digital Commerce,” a service for creating personalized digital shopping experiences for customers. The firm has also added a number of self-serve features to its CDP such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11422">“right to erasure” </a>to bolster the privacy and security features of its platform to cater to enterprise users. In May 2024, Acquia announced the launch of its enhanced digital experience platform, <a href="https://">Acquia Digital Experience Optimization (DXO),</a> which optimizes digital marketing spend by improving the performance of digital experiences. In September 2021, Acquia acquired Widen Enterprises, a digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) software company, for an undisclosed amount. As a result, customers can have a fully integrated experience on the platform, while the acquisition also added a further 700+ customers. In November 2023, the company acquired Monsido, a website accessibility and optimization solution from CivicPlus, to expand its platform capabilities.Key customers and partnershipsBy September 2021, Acquia counted one in four Fortune 500 companies, including Johnson &amp; Johnson, Bayer, and Xerox, among its customers.In June 2022, Acquia <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11352">partnered with Workato </a>(enterprise-level workflow automation platform) to integrate with Acquia’s CDP to expand enterprise use of the platform. The integration added 100+ technology integrations compatible with Acquia’s marketing cloud.Funding and financialsAcquia was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in September 2019 for USD 1 billion.

Acquia

Firms positioned as an 'all-in-one' marketing platform,  providing a variety of functions across the MarTech stack

Startups providing platforms for planning and managing marketing campaigns.

Startups offering tools for finding and attracting potential customers with targeted ads.

Startups providing tools to automate the execution of marketing campaigns across varied channels.

Startups providing tools for gathering, cleaning and enhancing customer data to provide deep analytics.

Uses AI/ML to enable marketing automation, making it a core part of many companies' products

Metaverse advertising is being explored by AdTech segments for in-game advertising

Personalization tools are mainly used in AdTech and marketing campaign automation

Marketing automation provides measurement and attribution solutions to measure marketing effectiveness

The in-game advertising segment is in development and has a niche relevance to this area

DISRUPTOR_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 <ul>
 <li>DanAds, an AdTech platform, partners with Outdoor experience provider to launch Outside Ad Manager, a self-serve advertising platform.</li>
 <li>Features offered by the Outside Ad Manager include geo-targeting, creative ad uploading, in-platform creative builder, live campaign launching in less than 48 hours, real-time campaign optimization and reporting.</li>
 <li>The platform allows partners to directly connect with their core audience of around 80 million outdoor enthusiasts, potentially driving growth for local businesses.</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>

DanAds

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