Baroda Ventures is a Los-Angeles-based venture capital firm that focuses on pre-seed and seed stage investments in the consumer internet, e-commerce, mobile, SaaS, and digital media industries. It prefers to invest in companies based in Los Angeles. It is also open to investments in later stage companies and companies in hardware, cleantech, and healthcare sectors. The firm prefers to invest $0.1 million and $5 million. Baroda Ventures was founded by David C. Bohnett in 1998 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.

Baroda Ventures

SV Angel is a service organization, investing in founders who share these values. They support entrepreneurs in building lasting companies by assisting at key inflection points and leveraging networks to help them propel their businesses forward.

SV Angel

Greycroft is a venture capital firm that focuses on technology start-ups and investments in the Internet and mobile markets. With offices in two of the most important business hubs in the world, New York and Los Angeles Greycroft uniquely positioned to serve entrepreneurs who have chosen us as their partners. The firm leverages an extensive network of media and technology industry connections to help entrepreneurs gain visibility, build strategic relationships, bring their products to market, and build successful businesses.  Greycroft manages in excess of $1 billion and has made over 200 investments since its inception in leading companies including Acorns, App Annie, Bird, Botkeeper, Bright Health, Boxed, Braintree, Buddy Media, Everything But The House, Extreme Reach, Huffington Post, Icertis, JW Player, Maker Studios, Plated, Scopely, Shipt, TheRealReal, Thrive Market, Trunk Club, Venmo, WideOrbit, and Yeahka. Greycroft has adopted the Diversity Term Sheet Rider.

Greycroft

Bonfire Ventures leads Seed rounds for business software solutions company founders transforming the industries they target.

Bonfire Ventures

Rincon Venture Partners seeks to partner with extraordinary entrepreneurs and support them as they build world-class businesses. Rincon is an early-stage venture capital firm that targets investment opportunities in Web-based businesses that are led by 'serial founding teams', have proven recurring revenue models and are pursuing capital-efficient operating plans. They typically invest in companies where initial product or service development is largely complete, and the company's forward-looking focus is on market engagement and expansion. They take an active role in guiding and supporting portfolio companies by committing resources for such activities as Board representation, providing strategic and tactical guidance, filling key management positions, facilitating subsequent financings and achieving liquidity events.

Rincon Venture Partners

Lighthouse Venture Management is a private investment company that owns & invests in a diversified group of businesses & equities.

Lighthouse Venture Management

Qualcomm Ventures is the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated. Founded in 2000, Qualcomm Ventures is a corporate venture capital fund with over 150 active portfolio companies and more than 20 exits over a billion dollars, including 99 Taxis, Cruise Automation, Fitbit, Invensense, NQ Mobile, Waze, and more. As a global investor, Qualcomm Ventures helps connect entrepreneurs to the resources, relationships, and deep industry expertise they need to succeed in the mobile technology ecosystem.

Qualcomm Ventures

Daher Capital is a privately owned family office. Daher Capital invests in a wide range of asset classes including developed equities, emerging market equities, small cap equities, real estate, private equity and venture capital.

Daher Capital

Mercato Partners is a minority growth investor. It seeks high-growth technology and consumer companies with $7 - $50M in annual revenues. These companies are no longer trying to simply prove if a product can work (venture), but are rather raising capital to accelerate marketing and sales efforts (growth).  Mercato traditionally writes $7 - $20M initial checks into companies with a predictable use of proceeds, an experienced management team, and healthy margins.  Mercato focuses its sourcing efforts on Southern California, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, and the Midwest.

Mercato Partners

Silicon Valley Bank works with technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity, and premium wine businesses. SVB provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment, and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 27 U.S. offices and seven international operations.   Banking innovative companies and exclusive wineries, Silicon Valley Bank’s diverse financial services, knowledge, global network, and world-class service increase its clients’ probability of success. Forbes Magazine ranks SVB among America’s Best Banks, and Fortune Magazine named SVB one of the Best Companies to Work For in 2012.

Silicon Valley Bank

Staley Capital is a Boston-based growth equity firm focused on technology-enabled business services and software companies. Their team targets high-growth tech-enabled business services and software companies that offer compelling, demonstrable, and innovative value propositions in vertical markets in which growth can be further accelerated by institutionalizing sales and marketing. Through their investments, they typically endeavor to grow companies with recurring, long-term customer relationships, differentiating themselves with the application of technology, and delivering a ''better/faster/cheaper'' B2B solution. Their senior partners have been partners in 10 different private equity funds, investing nearly $700MM of capital in 40 deals over the past 25 years. The breadth and depth of their experience allow them to be high value-added partners for each and every investment. They generally make $5-$19MM growth equity and buy-out investments. We seek to create value by collaborating with executives and exchanging views on key trade-offs and priorities. This allows them to maximize the value they add from being trusted advisors, analytical problem solvers, and sources of executive talent and client lead.

Staley Capital

Fidelity is a privately owned investment management firm that serves a wide range of clients. It offers services including IRAs, rollovers, annuities, discount brokerage, retirement planning, estate planning, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, and life insurance. They serve individual investors, businesses, financial advisors, and institutions. The firm manages equity, fixed-income, and balanced mutual funds and invests in public equity and fixed-income markets. It also conducts in-house research to inform its investment decisions.

Fidelity

BlackRock is an investment management company that provides its services to a diverse range of clients, including institutions, intermediaries, foundations, and individual investors. The firm operates as a global asset manager, overseeing and advising on a wide array of investment portfolios. In addition to its role as an investment manager, BlackRock is also known for its technological innovations and solutions that support various aspects of the financial industry. The company's multifaceted approach encompasses investment management, financial technology, and serving a broad spectrum of clients in the financial ecosystem.

BlackRock

MNTN

MNTN Performance TV is a Connected TV advertising platform that offers a suite of targeting, measurement, and automated optimization technology designed to deliver the results marketers expect from their performance channels. Our mission isn’t just to ensure your TV campaigns hit your goals, it’s to leave a lasting impact that helps you drive business for years to come.

MNTN is an adtech firm specializing in performance advertising for connected TV (CTV). The firm provides a self-service platform allowing brands and agencies to place ads on premium, ad-supported shows streamed via smart TVs, and over-the-top (OTT) devices. The platform includes solutions for 1) targeting customers via Oracle Data Clouds audience segments, 2) retargeting ads to visitors of websites of premium networks, and 3) attributing and measuring the performance of advertising campaigns via the MNTN platform as well as Google Analytics.&nbsp;

Using AI to automate, enhance and optimize marketing activities

Marketing Automation

Ahead of Starlink launch in SA, MTN explores partners for satellite-internet service

uLesson

To enhance educational outcomes in Nigeria by providing 4,600 tablets with the uLesson app, promoting digital literacy and supporting marginalized communities with N1 billion investment.

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

MNTN is an adtech firm specializing in performance advertising for connected TV (CTV). The firm provides a self-service platform allowing brands and agencies to place ads on premium, ad-supported shows streamed via smart TVs, and over-the-top (OTT) devices. The platform includes solutions for 1) targeting customers via Oracle Data Clouds audience segments, 2) retargeting ads to visitors of websites of premium networks, and 3) attributing and measuring the performance of advertising campaigns via the MNTN platform as well as Google Analytics.&nbsp;The firm launched<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7173"> a creative-as-a-subscription (CaaS) service</a> where brands can partner with MNTN’s ad agencies and production firms to create ad content, with brands that spend a significant amount having the opportunity to have the ad production done by Maximum Effort Marketing. In June 2023, the firm <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19520">introduced MNTN VIVA,</a> a video creative platform that combines generative AI tools with an intuitive editing environment for marketers.In June 2021, the firm acquired Maximum Effort Marketing, a digital marketing agency founded by actor Ryan Reynolds and George Dewey. Subsequently, Ryan Reynolds and George Dewey were appointed as the chief creative officer and chief brand officer of MNTN, respectively.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsBrands that use MNTN’s platform as of January 2022 include Coach, Swatch, Herman Miller, and Montblanc.

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 also allows content publishers to amplify its reach by supplying content to the platform. As of September 2023, 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. In May 2021, it tested “QualityRatings,” 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 September 2022, the firm launched <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13122">Keystone</a>, a business optimization solution for publishers.&nbsp;Outbrain has made a series of acquisitions over the years while making enhancements to its product offerings. 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 its CTV and other display ads offerings. In August 2024, Outbrain acquired <a href="https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/outbrain-acquires-teads-from-altice-for-1-billion/">Teads</a>, an SSP and video monetization company, to create an "end-to-end, full-funnel platform" by expanding into TV, video, and CTV advertising.&nbsp; Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;Outbrain’s customers include leading news media outlets such as CNN, MSN, and Sky News, serving more than a billion monthly users (by December 2022).&nbsp;&nbsp;In April 2022, Outbrain’s platform was <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9907">integrated with ID5</a> to provide a privacy-first customer identification solution.

Outbrain

Marin Software is an adTech firm offering a suite of solutions for brands looking to conduct search, social media, and ecommerce advertising. The firm’s “MarineOne” 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’s commerce media platform and Instacart’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">“MarinOne Scripts,”</a> which integrates Python scripting with its MarineOne platform, providing marketers with customized and data-driven solutions to optimize campaigns.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsAs of October 2021, several brands from varied industries, including Nissan, American Eagle outfitters, and Harmony, use the firm’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. 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.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Marin Software

Founded in China, Terminus claims to have the first account-based marketing (ABM) platform that unifies the marketing and sales teams’ roles under a single platform. Terminus specializes in B2B marketing and, according to the firm, its “Terminus Data Studio” has one of the largest B2B account databases, which by September 2021, covered more than 70 million businesses. Terminus’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’ suite of analytics and attribution tools. 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.

Terminus

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; the range of services found on Brevo's platform include 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 “Conversations”</a> to manage customer conversations across messaging channels in one centralized location.Brevo’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. More recently, 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;&nbsp;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;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;The platform catered to 500,000+ customers across 180 countries as of end December 2022.

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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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&nbsp;<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&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35334">October 2024,</a> Acquia added AI capabilities to digital asset management solutions to accelerate campaign delivery.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/36365">November 2024,&nbsp;</a>Acquia acquired Monsid to expand Acquia's digital experience 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.&nbsp;As of September 2024, the company served more than 4,000 customers globally.&nbsp;In June 2022, Acquia&nbsp;<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.&nbsp;

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 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. This also includes firms offering account-based marketing (ABM) solutions to drive targeted and personalized campaigns.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for marketing

Personalization tools are mainly used in AdTech and marketing campaign automation

Marketing automation provides measurement and attribution solutions to measure marketing effectiveness

Uses GenAI to automate content creation  and personalize content for marketing campaigns

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

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

MNTN

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