Funding is down in adtech—but not for everyone.
Yesterday, Vibe.co, which is part of a growing crop of performance CTV players, announced it has raised $50 million in a Series B at a $410 million valuation. The round was led by London VC Hedosophia, with participation from previous backers Elaia and Singular (and a few notable others).
Vibe.co claims it’s “the most widely used CTV ad buying platform,” with more than 5,000 buyers and reach into 120 million households across 500 apps and channels.
Why This Matters:
Is it CTV or PTV? Performance TV advertising is a hot market, driven by a few key trends. Chief among them: efforts to democratize CTV media buying, with platforms like Universal Ads, Roku, MNTN, and Vibe.co leading the charge. This has been a huge trend all year. (The almighty AdTechGod predicted it first, really.)
That push is opening the door to SMBs and direct response buyers entering the TV ad market. For these buyers to feel comfortable spending, performance has to be central to both the technology and the pitch. Vibe.co sees a big opportunity in that shift.
Experts React:
Vibe’s CEO and co-founder Arthur Querou underscored this point in the company’s press release on the Series B:
“The performance TV advertising market is on track to surpass social media advertising by 2035, driven by an influx of DTC brands and Instagram advertisers. It’s a trillion-dollar market… What we’re building is the Meta for TV advertising…”
Entrepreneur Ilya Kondrashov, who has experience working with SMBs through a payments fintech company, also joined the round via fund QuantumLight, where he’s CEO. He shared a post about the raise on X:
Our Take:
This is a very competitive space, obviously, but there is massive potential for SMB-buying in TV. Sustained growth, however, will depend on proving value to SMB and mid-market buyers who are helping keep CTV CPMs strong even as inventory expands. The challenge: ensuring the industry doesn’t simply cash in on the “we’re on TV” factor, but delivers measurable outcomes tied directly to business results.
