Kevel Secures Series C Funding & Names Puja Rios as President/COO Expanding its C-Suite Team
by on 7th Mar 2024 in News
Kevel, the API led ad serving company, is announcing it has raised USD$23m (£18m) in Series C funding. This round of funding was led by Series B investor Fulcrum Equity Partners with investment from Godwin Capital Group, Iberis Capital, Dunnhumby Ventures, as well as continued participation from Commerce Ventures.
The new funding allows Kevel to deepen its retail media focus and drive advanced product innovation to retailers and marketplaces offering on-site retail media ad products.
"What makes retailers different from traditional publishers is that they have unique 1st party data and closed loop attribution," stated James Avery, CEO, Kevel. "Kevel’s flexible API tools enable retailers to build differentiated retail media platforms leveraging their unique attributes to provide advertisers with innovative, cutting edge decisioning, ad formats, targeting, and site performance, all while keeping their data safe and secure at scale."
In order to effectively expand further into the retail media market and continue to serve its retailers, Kevel is announcing the expansion of its senior leadership team with the addition of former Frame.io chief revenue officer Puja Rios joining the company as President / COO. Her strategic appointment comes at a critical time for the business as it looks to capitalise on the retail media momentum, with ad spend expected to increase 10.4% to USD$141.7bn (£111.3bn) in 2024.
With over 25 years of experience in the software industry, Rios has a proven track record of scaling revenue, building high-performance teams, and delivering stellar results. Rios focus will centralise around the next phase of growth for Kevel, expanding the company’s client base further into the retail media sector.
"Kevel’s success and innovation in the retail media market reflects its relentless pursuit of pushing boundaries to deliver a solution that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of its customers," commented Rios. "I am proud to join a company where innovation knows no bounds and where we are redefining what's possible in the ever-evolving landscape of retail media."
This heightened focus on retail media comes at a pivotal time for the billion dollar retail advertising industry as it enters the age of differentiation. Retailers and marketplaces are striving to capture advertiser demand for inventory, flexibility, and maximum ROI by offering the best mix of data targeting, ad formats, and measurement while balancing the preservation of their brand, data assets, and shopper experience.
Avery continued, "We see a large shift in the retail media landscape as brands focus on doubling down on the retail media networks that are delivering value, and cutting back from the retail media networks that are commoditised. This is pushing retailers to invest in moving from off the shelf solutions to building high-end, differentiated retail media networks. Adding Puja to our team is going to enable us to scale with more retailers and help them in their quest to earn their spot on the media plans of the largest brands in the world."
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