Top venture capital firm Foundry doubles down on investment along with additional investors Archer Venture Capital, Lexington Partners, Progress Ventures and Structural Capital
July 26, 2022 – Boulder, CO – Sovrn, a publisher technology platform that empowers content creators to remain independent and thrive on the open web, today announced it raised $36 million in a new round of equity financing. The investment is a reflection of Sovrn’s consistent growth and profitability, including year-over-year revenue growth for the past seven consecutive quarters and 13 out of the last 14 quarters, and the value Sovrn has continued to deliver to customers across its multi-solution publisher platform.
The funding allows Sovrn to pursue additional acquisitions and support the company’s mission of delivering innovative products and services that further expand the capabilities of the Sovrn platform.
Since its previous raise of $26 million in December 2018, the company has acquired three companies and significantly expanded its product portfolio, increased its employee count by more than 50% across the US, UK and EU, and added thousands of diverse, active customers that generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue by using its products.
Investors include Foundry, Archer Venture Capital, Lexington Partners, Progress Ventures and Structural Capital, among others.
“This financing represents a milestone achievement for Sovrn, given the contraction in financial markets and current conservative approach to investing,” said Walter Knapp, Sovrn CEO. “It speaks volumes to the value we continue to deliver to customers, our positive track record of acquiring and integrating complementary product companies onto the Sovrn platform, and our consistent, profitable revenue growth.”
Sovrn simplifies the complexities of the open web with tools and insights for content creators so they can better understand their business, make smarter decisions, operate more efficiently and grow revenue. The platform is powered by the Sovrn Data Collective, which delivers access to safe, privacy-compliant data, helping ensure that publishers can tap enhanced consumer understanding, enriched audience profiles, and insights into revenue performance in order to better compete against monopolistic walled gardens. The company sits at the intersection of multiple, multi-billion dollar markets across advertising technology, affiliate marketing and ecommerce, consumer data and publisher tools.
“Sovrn’s simple yet powerful product platform is unmatched in the industry,” said Seth Levine, managing director at Foundry. “We’ve been impressed by the company’s continued innovation, rapid scaling, and high levels of customer satisfaction. We see tremendous opportunity for Sovrn to further penetrate the market and are excited to continue partnering with Walter and his team.”
Sovrn Fast Facts
- Six acquisitions since inception in 2014, creating a multi-solution platform that delivers:
- Advertising technology, management and reporting to maximize inventory value
- Robust affiliate monetization tools offering link creation, commerce comparisons, shopping galleries and access to thousands of merchants
- Market-leading tools to measure, compare and monetize reader engagement
- Privacy-compliant, data enhancement and enrichment technologies
- Largest publisher Data Collective, comprising more than 6,000 independent publishers reaching 400 million daily consumers who generate over 25 billion daily page views across 60,000 websites
- Customer base includes enterprise and mid-tier publishers in both the US and the UK, such as Ziff Davis, Vox Media, Daily Beast, Tribune Media, Blavity, Encyclopedia Britannica and Salon
- Industry-leading net retention rates and a Net Promoter Score over 70
About Sovrn
Sovrn provides products and services to thousands of online publishers to help them understand, operate and grow their business. Sovrn is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in New York, London, San Diego and Lugano, Switzerland. With thousands of customers deploying advertising, affiliate marketing, and data products across more than 60,000 websites, Sovrn reaches over 400 million daily active consumers generating 25 billion page views every day. Sovrn has been a leader in online publisher technology since its founding and has been recognized by IAB, JICWEBS, and TAG for its role in combating fraud and promoting pro-transparency initiatives. Sovrn is dedicated to helping creators do more of what they love, and less of what they don’t. www.sovrn.com
