Advertising automation software firm Nanigans on Wednesday announced raising what is easily its largest funding round to date with a $24 million Series B. The funding was led by a Chinese Internet firm and includes Boston-based Wellington Management, an investment giant known for backing tech IPO contenders, among the new investors.
The funding for Boston-based Nanigans—which offers software for automating the placement of targeted ads on Facebook and other sites—follows a number of years of strong growth on a minimal amount of funding; the company had previously raised $9.7 million since its founding in 2008.
The company initially rose to prominence in the ad tech world, and in the Boston tech community, for its system of automating and improving ads run on Facebook. In November, Nanigans expanded to include its first new platform beyond Facebook—Twitter’s MoPub exchange, used to place ads on thousands of sites and apps.
Nanigans says that it is seeing $500 million in annualized advertising spending using its software. Customers include Wayfair, eBay and Zynga.
Along with Wellington—whose investments include IPO-bound companies such as Uber, Veracode and Lookout—the new round for Nanigans included one other new investor, Chinese mobile technologies firm Cheetah Mobile (CMCM), which led the round. The funding also included returning investor Avalon Ventures.
Nanigans plans to use the new funding to accelerate its growth, including internationally. Along with the Boston headquarters, the company now has offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Singapore and Australia. The agreement with Cheetah Mobile is aimed in part at growing Nanigans’ business in Asia, according to a news release.
Image of employee avatars courtesy of Nanigans.
