www.gumgum.com
Year invested: 2021
Sector: Media technology (contextual ad platform)

Company Overview

GumGum provides a software platform that enables brands, agencies and publishers to serve digital ads in contextually relevant and brand-safe formats and locations. Using proprietary natural language processing and computer vision technology, the platform allows marketers to serve targeted ads across digital formats (desktop, mobile, connected TV) without relying on cookies. The Company serves 700 brands (including 70% of the Fortune 100) and 30,000+ publishers. GumGum was founded in 2008 and is based in Santa Monica, CA.

Investment Thesis

We believe that GumGum is uniquely positioned to benefit from secular shifts within the digital advertising landscape. As major platforms phase out third-party cookies and privacy regulation enables users to easily opt out of providing data, advertisers struggle to find audiences based on browsing histories. Contextual targeting as pioneered by GumGum is the leading alternative. While overall ad spending is cyclical, we believe that GumGum benefits from the secular reallocations toward digital channels and, within digital channels, towards contextual targeting. 

GumGum’s growth and profitability enable investments in international expansion, application of its technology to new formats (e.g. connected television, gaming, virtual reality) and inorganic growth. Since we partnered with the Company, GumGum has successfully integrated acquisitions to expand geographic reach and product capabilities. We are excited to support the team across this multitude of opportunities.