Ad Lightning builds software to help publishers and ad exchanges monitor and remove bad ads that slow web pages and disrupt user engagement. The company was spun out of Pioneer Square Labs and was founded last year. It operates from Seattle with an 11-person team; several employees will shuttle to New York for accelerator activities. Ad Lightning was named to Verizon Ventures’ inaugural Media Tech Venture Studio and will spend three months in New York City while receiving a $100,000 investment and mentorship. The $100,000 investment is made by R/GA Ventures (co-owned by Verizon and R/GA), which also holds a pro‑rata right to invest in future rounds. The startup raised $1 million last month and previously closed a $2 million seed round led by Sinclair Digital Ventures. Ad Lightning is preparing to raise a Series A later this year and is pursuing business development with Verizon media properties including AOL and Yahoo. Ad Lightning provides a proprietary intelligence tool that gives digital publishers insights to manage programmatic advertising creative, preserve brand integrity, and protect audience experience. The product helps publishers recover revenues lost to slow-loading and non-compliant digital ad units and aims to begin reversing consumer adoption of ad-blocking software. Founded in 2016 as a spin-out of startup studio Pioneer Square Labs, the company is led by digital publishing veteran Scott Moore. Ad Lightning is based in Seattle, WA and targets publishers and advertising platforms seeking to improve ad performance and user experience. The company completed a $2M seed financing to support its growth and product development. Kevin Cotlove of Sinclair Broadcast Group joined Ad Lightning’s board in conjunction with the funding.

Total raised

$2M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Aug 2017