GumGum builds a proprietary contextual intelligence engine that applies computer vision and natural language processing to scan text, images and videos for advertising and sports use cases. The company specializes in contextual solutions across Display, Native and Video (OTT & Web). GumGum has applied its machine learning expertise to extract value from digital content for advertisers and publishers. It works with over 100 major brands and 1,200 publishers globally. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate adoption of its contextual intelligence advertising product suite and to expand investments in key international markets. Phil Schraeder is the company’s Chief Executive Officer. GumGum developed computer-vision technology to identify image content and place contextually relevant ads, and has expanded that foundation into products like sports sponsorships and in-video advertising. The company launched Verity for Publishers, which combines NLP and computer vision to ensure brand safety and relevance, and plans to ship Verity for Brands later this year. Its in-video unit has been tested with Sprint and other brands with a broader launch scheduled for the second quarter. CEO Phil Schraeder said GumGum’s core business has been profitable for years and that the company can turn profitability “on or off” to accelerate growth. Going forward the company plans a more aggressive M&A strategy to accelerate expansion. GumGum was founded in 2008 and is based in Santa Monica, Calif. GumGum, founded in 2007, offers technology that identifies the content of an image and places matching ads, originally known for in-image ads. The company has expanded beyond in-image ads to support a broader selection of advertising alongside editorial content and positions itself as an engineering company focused on image recognition. It works with more than 2,000 premium publishers reaching 400 million visitors each day. GumGum has been profitable for the past three years and is pacing a bit above a $75 million run rate for annual revenue. The company plans to use funding to drive growth overseas, improve image recognition and computer vision, and develop new ad units, including tests in video. CEO Ophir Tanz said an IPO could be possible by the end of 2017, though he emphasized there is no firm timeline. GumGum operates an in-image ad platform that overlays text, banner or Flash ad units on top of photos to create interactive advertising experiences. The company’s proprietary image-recognition and targeting technology is designed to drive engagement for advertisers and, the company says, yields campaigns with 20× the click-through rates of traditional ad networks. GumGum reaches 110 million unique visitors and serves billions of in-image ads per month, and it has been profitable since early 2011. Co-founded in 2007 by Ophir Tanz, GumGum partners with publishers including Time Warner, Hearst Corporation, Tribune, TMZ, Gannett and Glam Network. The company faces competition from Luminate and Image Space Media. Management plans to use new funding to grow the ad‑sales infrastructure and team, develop proprietary image recognition, ad serving and ad matching technologies, and expand into additional territories. GumGum operates a marketplace selling photos and other content to online publishers on a CPM basis. The company is based in Santa Monica. According to a regulatory filing, GumGum raised $2.6M in a venture round. The firm previously received funding from First Round Capital and Crosscut Ventures. The company lists First Round partner Howard Morgan and MySpace COO Michael Jones as board members. GumGum later confirmed the new round was led by GRP Partners.

Total raised

$134M

Funding rounds

7

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Apr 2021