Kevel sells software that helps retailers and brands run onsite advertising: search ads, an ad server to manage and place ads, an audience tool for first‑party data, and a bundled retail media cloud. The company counts customers such as Klarna, Delivery Hero and Ticketmaster. Kevel, formerly Adzerk and 14 years old, emphasizes lower monthly fees and focuses on onsite ad formats. Management says it previously prioritized R&D and will use the new funding to scale sales and marketing; it also hired Puja Rios as president and COO. Kevel competes with Criteo, Epsilon and Microsoft in the retail‑media space. The company is working with the IAB to develop standards to enable cross‑retailer search ad buying and aims to have a proof of concept within six months. Kevel provides an API platform that allows retail, e‑commerce, and marketplace customers to build personalized ad servers quickly and to integrate native ad units into website designs using first‑party data. The platform is cookie‑less, JavaScript‑free and offers server‑side access and customizable tools that enable features like demographics, frequency capping, and past purchase data while keeping client data secure. Kevel works directly with businesses to help monetize ads without negatively impacting user experience and counts customers including Ticketmaster, Klarna, WeTransfer, and Yelp. Led by founder and CEO James Avery, the company rebranded from Adzerk in December 2020 and has since signed numerous partnerships with leading enterprises. Kevel raised $10M in Series B funding and plans to use the proceeds to expand the team, sign more partnerships, develop product features and API offerings, and expand further into retail media. Kevel (fka Adzerk) provides infrastructure APIs that enable clients to build custom digital ad platforms for sponsored listings, internal promotions, native ads and more. Its APIs let companies outsource ad serving, targeting, decisioning, and reporting so they can focus on product innovation such as self-serve UIs and new placements for sponsored content. Customers including Ticketmaster, Strava and Mozilla have launched ad platforms on Kevel. The company intends to use the $11M Series A proceeds to continue expanding operations and its business reach. Kevel was founded in 2010 by CEO James Avery and is based in New York City. Adzerk is developing a next-generation ad serving platform that emphasizes real-time reporting, ultra-fast ad serving, and support for building ad networks. The company is enhancing its platform to give publishers and ad networks more flexibility and control. Adzerk is closing a $650,000 seed round from a mix of institutional and angel investors to fund those product improvements. Customers already include Stack Overflow, StatSheet and a number of ad networks. The startup grew out of two niche ad networks, The Lounge and Ruby Row, which were run by founder James Avery. Avery is also the co-founder of TekPub.

Total raised

$45M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Mar 2024