Apester provides an audience engagement platform enabling publishers to embed interactive units—quizzes, polls, tests—inside articles and videos. The company is led by CEO and co‑founder Moti Cohen and is already used by thousands of publishers, including Time Inc., AOL, The Daily Telegraph, The Huffington Post, FOX, USA Today, BBC, Sky and Bild. It has a team of 50 and supports publishers in more than 40 countries with offices in London, Berlin, Istanbul and Tokyo and R&D in Tel Aviv. Apester intends to use the latest funds to continue growth, including plans to double its employee base over the coming year. Financially, the company has raised $17m to date following its Series A second tranche closing. The platform serves both publishers and brands seeking increased audience engagement. Apester offers tools that let online publishers create and embed polls, surveys, personality tests and video quizzes directly in their articles. The product targets publishers that want interactive storytelling and native branded-content opportunities. The company works with more than 400 publishers and reaches roughly 200 million impressions per month. Publishers can monetize via branded content and have the option to opt out of running ads. Apester began in Israel and is now headquartered in New York City. The company says the new funding will be used to expand its presence in the United States. Qmerce offers a platform that lets brands and community managers create customizable, branded social games for Facebook rapidly and at low cost. The company targets online media, marketing and community managers, enabling campaigns that map in-game achievements to real-life rewards. It has more than 40 customers, including Crocs and the Israeli Pizza Hut franchise, and reports 300,000 games played to date. CEO Moti Cohen says average user play is about 50 minutes. Creating games is free for now, and the company plans to introduce a paid premium service with greater customization. Qmerce planned to present at the Israeli Pavilion at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, signaling active marketing and outreach efforts.

Total raised

$17M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Apr 2016