New capital helps put international expansion plans into action
Meetrics has successfully completed its third round of funding. Two well-known experts in the ad-tech industry, Thomas Falk (eValue) and Ronald Paul (Muzungu Capital), are the newest members to join the company’s partners. Alongside the newcomers, two long-standing investors, VC Fonds Technologie Berlin (operated by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft) and yabeo Capital are also involved in this investment round.
Meetrics now has new capital that amounts in total to a seven-figure sum that will primarily be used for further European expansion.
Following the previous investment rounds with VC Fonds Technologie Berlin, NWZ Digital and yabeo Capital, the current investment in expansion signifies another important milestone in the growth of the Berlin ad-tech company. “We reached profitability halfway through the year and were therefore able to calmly consider our strategic plans for Meetrics. With our new investors we can now focus on pushing ahead our international expansion and reinforcing our leading position in the continental European market”, the Managing Director of Meetrics Max v. Hilgers explains.
Philipp v. Hilgers, also Managing Director of Meetrics, adds: “We were looking for investors who actually understand the ad-tech market and who could actively help us with our international expansion. With Thomas Falk from eValue and Ronald Paul of Muzungu Capital, we’ve found the perfect duo that will help drive our company’s growth with their capital, networks, and business expertise.”
Meetrics is currently represented internationally with offices in Paris, London and Vienna. With the new funding Meetrics is planning to open offices in Italy, Poland and the Nordic countries, in order to be able to offer an optimal service for campaigns which are increasingly becoming international.
New investor Ronald Paul, who founded the international performance marketing agency Quisma 15 years ago, was convinced by these plans for expansion.
In his position as global CEO, Ronald Paul has been responsible for increasing Quisma’s international presence and has gained valuable insights into the ad-tech and media industries in many countries and continents: “In terms of evaluating the effectiveness of adverts, Meetrics already represents the standard in Europe. However, there is even more potential in Europe as an increasing amount of campaigns are designed to be shown in a variety of countries.”
Thomas Falk, new investor and partner from eValue, didn’t hesitate in his decision to participate in this investment round which was also motivated by these factors: “With eValue we’re looking for outstanding technology businesses with potential for international growth. Meetrics combines first-class technology with an international customer base and is therefore a great addition to our portfolio.”
The current investors also still see Meetrics as a company with massive potential. “Meetrics is an exemplary company in the Berlin ad-tech field and addresses large problem areas in the advertising industry with its solutions: Viewability, Fraud Prevention, Brand Safety and Audience Verification. We are proud to have been on board with Meetrics since the first investment round,” states Christoph Zeller from IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft.
Matthias Sohler, partner of yabeo Capital also adds: “Since we invested in the company about a year and a half ago, Meetrics has developed at an astounding rate.
Meetrics is already associated with other similar providers and sets the bar high with its new standards, exceeding most other competitors. Together with the other investors we can successfully bring Meetrics to an even bigger international market.”
Since 2008, Meetrics has been fighting a battle against the inefficiency of online advertising – a large amount of ads won’t ever be seen by users viewing the page. What’s more, botnets generate false traffic and a large proportion of visible content is therefore not seen by the intended users. Only approximately 50% of adverts are seen by the intended target group, the other 50% are not visible at all or, are placed in the wrong online environment. This situation was unknown to most in 2008 and advertisers would pay on the basis of ad impressions, as soon as the advert was fetched from the source. Initially, Meetrics’ approach of evaluating advertising banners according to their visibility, and not just according to the amount of impressions, was eyed with suspicion in the industry.
Today however, viewability evaluations belong firmly to the industry standard. Leading advertisers, agencies and publishers trust the independent analysis, accredited by the MRC board, and include the results in their campaign KPIs as a standard procedure. Meetrics’ client base currently includes over 140 customers in 7 countries and also offers ‘Audience Verification’, analysis of target groups, and ‘Fraud Prevention/Brand Safety’, identifying trustworthy environments, alongside their visibility evaluation ‘Viewability’.
Meetrics currently measures billions of ad impressions every month and has become an indispensable tool for agencies, advertisers and publishers. Meetrics’ wide customer base boasts top marketers such as AOL, Condé Nast, RTL and Sanoma, internationally operating advertisers such as L’Oréal, General Motors and P&G; as well as, large agencies such as Omnicom, GroupM and Dentsu Aegis. Meetrics no longer evaluates just national campaigns but is used on an international level.
Since 2008, Meetrics has been providing cutting edge solutions to increase the quality of online marketing and therefore contributing to a more transparent and effective digital eco-system. With offices in Berlin, London, Paris and Vienna, Meetrics now has more than 65 employees.
Alongside evaluating the visibility of online ads, Meetrics also makes it possible to control the ad environment, the target group and also protects against fraudulent placements. Meetrics is the first European vendor to be accredited by the most relevant industry committee, the MRC, for measuring display and video ads. In addition, Meetrics is also certified by the ABC/JICWEBS committee, and supports the viewability initiatives from BVDW, CESP and IAB Austria.
