Firefly equips Uber, Lyft and other ride-hail drivers (and increasingly traditional taxis) with in-car digital smart screens that run targeted, geofenced ads. The company currently operates in San Francisco and Los Angeles and is about to launch in New York City by acquiring the digital operations of Strong Outdoor. Firefly says the move will let it scale taxi partnerships, including what its CEO described as a large taxi advertising contract with a major taxi trade organization. It has committed 10% of its ad inventory to local businesses, nonprofits and local governments. The company reports that its platform has provided driver partners an average of about $300 extra per month. Firefly raised new capital to scale quickly after a sizable seed round six months earlier. Firefly builds a “digital smart screen” for rideshare drivers that enables targeted, geofenced ad campaigns on cars. The company launched publicly after a beta in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where it ran more than 50 campaigns with hundreds of cars. Firefly says the average driver in its network earns an additional $300 per month and is exploring flat fees and other revenue-share approaches for drivers who meet hour thresholds. Over half the team are engineers and the company has focused on developing core IP it sees as a differentiator. Firefly enforces strict ad policies (declining ads for strip clubs, tobacco and cannabis) and plans to use its displays as the foundation for a “smart city data network,” sharing air quality data with the Coalition for Clean Air while saying it does not plan to monetize that data. Kaan Gunay is the company’s co-founder and CEO.

Total raised

$52M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

May 2019