An advertising technology firm’s acquisition of a Portuguese company will accelerate expansion and hiring.
Durham-based Kevel has acquired Velocidi, an audience segment and remarketing platform. James Avery, Kevel’s CEO and founder, said the company made the deal in order to fill a gap in its offerings.
“We continue to build out of product functionality to enable our customers to build ad platforms, and this was kind of the missing piece of the equation,” Avery said. “So for us, it was do we try to build this or is there a company that we can acquire to really accelerate the offering to our customers.”
Avery declined to comment on the terms of the deal.
The acquisition will expand Kevel’s product offerings in multiple ways, including adding advanced user segments and content personalization, according to the company. All audience segmentation uses first-party data collection, which lets brands and advertisers have full control over their information.
Kevel’s technology allows businesses to build and monetize their own custom advertising servers so that native ads can be integrated seamlessly into a website’s design. Its platform is used by companies including Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY), Ticketmaster, Strava and Yelp (NYSE: YELP).
“Velocidi’s dedication to privacy-first audience segmentation aligns well with Kevel’s vision of privacy-first digital monetization. We’re thrilled to partner with them to offer more functionality to both our customers and theirs,” Paulo Cunha, CEO of Velocidi, said in a statement. “By enabling more functionality for advertisers to target their customers, publishers have the opportunity to build ad platforms that can compete with ones from Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.”
Kevel will bring on all of Velocidi’s full-time employees, and is looking to hire more. Avery said the company has been hiring “nonstop." Kevel currently has 10 positions open and will likely add 20 or 30 more by the end of the year.
He said the company has embraced remote work and is hiring from across the U.S. and U.K., as well as Portugal now.
Avery said Kevel has around 40 employees in the Triangle currently, and is looking to add more.
“We love to hire in the Triangle when we can," he said.
Kevel’s personnel is not the only aspect of the company that is growing.
While he could not provide specific numbers, Avery said the firm has seen an average growth rate of 60 percent year-over-year. The company raised $10 million in December to fuel hiring. At the time, Avery said the funding would help Kevel grow its headcount to above 100.
Kevel is also not finished with making deals – Avery said the company will be continuing to look at potential acquisitions, both in the Triangle and internationally.
The company, which launched in 2010 as Adzerk, rebranded to Kevel in 2020.