On Wednesday, NYC digital marketing company DoubleVerify announced that it raised $350 million from a group of investors, including Tiger Global Management, Fidelity, BlackRock, Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers and others.
Marketing and advertising has been a huge industry in the United States for decades, but the birth of the internet has changed the way brands market their products. Advertisements on TV, in magazines and newspapers used to be the gold standard for advertising, but that standard is rapidly changing. DoubleVerify wants to make sure brands can keep up with this constantly evolving landscape.
DoubleVerify has created a software platform that helps companies with their digital marketing approach, and uses data and analytics to give brands a sense of how their efforts are stacking up. The platform takes a three-tiered approach: the platform ensures viewability to make sure the ads are seen, it protects against fraud to make sure real people are seeing the ads and it ensures brand safety, so ads aren’t displayed next to or before harmful content. These tools provide transparency, so marketers know how their campaigns are being received once they put them out into the world.
This $350 million investment represents a significant funding round, but the company says that the new capital will primarily be used in order to purchase shares from existing shareholders — essentially, a stock buyback to give the company more ownership of its business. However, DoubleVerify also said that some of this investment will be used to grow, expanding into new areas like media performance optimization and connected TV analytics.
The company is also hiring for its offices across the world, including dozens of open roles in New York. This will help the company grow in the future.
“The support of these high-caliber investors speaks to DoubleVerify’s momentum, including new customer growth, product innovation and global expansion,” CEO Mark Zagorski said in a statement.
