附近上门

For a long time, adtech startups regularly picked up billions of dollars in venture funding in a given year.

Not anymore.

So far this year, U.S. advertising-focused startups have raised only around $360 million, per 附近上门 . That puts the industry on track for the slowest year in over a decade.

For a sense of how far funding has fallen, we charted out annual adtech investment from 2015 till today.

In addition to putting less money into the space, investors are also backing fewer deals. Round counts this year are also on track to hit the lowest level in years.

Why so down?

What gives? Per , a professor of technology and marketing at , the decline in adtech investment 鈥渃an be largely attributed to market saturation, increased regulatory pressures, and economic uncertainties.鈥�

For anyone who spends time online, the notion of market saturation isn鈥檛 hard to comprehend. Everywhere we go online, we see ads. They include creepy, micro-targeted promotions delivered via tracking apps, flashing videos that strain the eye, and pleas for money interrupting our social media scrolls.

No one is saying: It would be great to see more ads. And so, it鈥檚 not entirely surprising to see that VCs aren鈥檛 putting so much money into new platforms for ad delivery.

As for regulatory pressure, stricter privacy rules like the EU鈥檚 General Data Protection Regulation, or , and the California Consumer Privacy Act, or , enacted a few years ago, add to compliance costs and complexities for adtech companies, Ghose observed. It can be particularly daunting for startups.

Startup pullback not reflected in public markets

As startup funding withers, mature adtech companies haven鈥檛 been doing too badly. True, shares of many of the larger publicly traded companies in the space are down a lot from the market peak. But for the most part, stocks haven鈥檛 cratered.

One star standout is , a marketing automation platform that is currently a $43 billion market cap company, profitable, with nearly $2 billion in annual revenue last year. The Ventura, California, company pitches itself as a platform for advertisers who want to target messages to customers across the 鈥渙pen internet.鈥�

Other significant public companies that once raised venture backing include , , and . Of course, the deepest-pocketed companies with sophisticated advertising technology offerings are the biggest internet companies, like and .

Some startups still securing sizable rounds

Among startups, there are a few companies that secured good-sized rounds this year.

The largest funding recipient is longtime unicorn , which picked up $115 million in a March . The company describes itself as operating at the intersection of generative AI and advertising.

Durham, North Carolina-based , a provider of ad-serving software tools, raised $23 million in a March Series C. And Chicago-based , a platform for advertising on streaming TV apps, a $22.5 million Series A in late February.

In total, per 附近上门 , there were 10 funding rounds this year of $10 million or more for advertising or marketing-related startups.

How adtech VC funding might get its groove back

While this year may be sluggish, Ghose is optimistic that adtech startup funding will eventually make a comeback, particularly for those adept in leveraging AI technology for compelling use cases.

Certainly longer-term funding data supports the notion that recent repressed investment levels are something of an anomaly. While we may not get back to the heights of 2021, a reversion to the norm for the past decade would still mean significantly more funding than we鈥檙e seeing presently.

For now, we remain as glued to our screens as ever. So when funding comes back, digital advertisers know where to find us.

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