• Seedtag, a contextual advertising intelligence platform, has raised more than EUR 250 million (~USD 252 million) in private equity funding from Advent International. This brings the total funds raised to ~USD 300 million. 

• Founded in Spain by two ex-Googlers, Seedtag provides an AI-powered solution known as “Liz” that can analyze content and match it with contextually appropriate targeted ads. The platform is also capable of tracking ad performance without the need for third-party cookies. The firm claims that its solutions increase customer engagement rates by 6x and improve brand favorability by 3.2x. Seedtag’s customers mainly consist of automotive and FMCG brands including Mitsubishi, Henkel, LG, Levis, and Garnier.

• The firm plans to utilize the funds to further develop and scale its contextual AI technology, accelerate expansion plans to the US, where its Co-Founder Albert Nieto will be relocating to, and provide additional resources for M&A activity.    

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: The large funding raised by Seedtag may be a reflection of investor interest in firms specialized in providing analytics and intelligence without the need for third-party cookies, which is a growing challenge facing marketers, brought about due to data deprecation and changes to privacy regulation. Interest in startups such as Seedtag is expected to remain strong, as the deadline for the elimination of third-party cookies from popular web browsers draws near (scheduled to be eliminated from Google Chrome by end 2023), where solutions such as Seedtag’s “Liz” become increasingly important for delivering personalized customer experiences.</ul>