An advertising technology firm in Durham has disclosed a $10 million fundraise, money its CEO said will fuel more jobs.
Kevel, a firm with an infrastructure platform used by companies such as Ticketmaster and Yelp (NYSE: YELP), disclosed Thursday that it had closed on the capital from investors such as Fulcrum Equity Partners and existing backers.
The company's technology works to allow businesses to build and monetize their own custom ad servers. The goal is to seamlessly integrate native ad units into a website’s design. The company describes its walled garden ad solutions as rivaling those of the monopolies dominating the internet, but in a privacy-focused way.
CEO James Avery said the cash will help the firm get past the 100 employee mark.
“We’ve actually already hired up to about 80 people right now,” he said, adding that there are openings for about 20 positions. “We still continue to hire great people here, but the big eye-opening thing about hiring anywhere is we can hire the best person for the job, wherever they are.”
Avery declined to give the firm’s current valuation, but did say he continues to have a stake in the company. He referred to the latest round as a “minority investment” that gives Kevel runway through the middle of 2023.
“My goal is to build a big, long-lasting company,” he said. “The hope is that we will eventually IPO. That’s years off, but I think at this point that’s the goal.”
Avery said the company also gets serious inbound acquisition interest regularly but that investors continue to think the value proposition is only getting bigger. Right now, an exit isn’t top of mind – execution is.
“The investors, myself, the leadership team, we’re all aligned,” he said. “We think there’s a big opportunity.”
The company rebranded from the name “Adzerk” back in 2020, making this the first funder post-shift. Altogether, Kevel has raised about $22 million, according to the company.