Exclusive: Ad tech firm that shuns cookies and has Amazon and D&G as clients to float on AIM
A UK digital marketing firm that uses AI instead of website tracking cookies to measure which websites consumers visit is set to raise around £10m in its AIM float tomorrow.
SilverBullet will go public on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market tomorrow morning after successfully raising £9.4m, valuing it at more than £35m.
It’s expected the fresh injection of cash will allow it to expand deeper into the world’s biggest advertising market, the US, and its boss Ian James said the London-based company was on the lookout for acquisition targets as well.
SilverBullet’s advertising technology works by incorporating AI to help companies target their ads on websites that reach their preferred consumer group, but without using tracking cookies.
James said privacy online had come to the forefront of internet users’ minds and brands needed to use different tech rather than cookies to find the websites and content their consumers kept returning to.
Heineken, ITV and Channel 4
The digital marketing firm already has deal with major brands including Heineken, Dolce & Gabbana, Amazon, Channel 4, ITV and Vodafone.
The company thinks it’s part of the solution for the “post-cookie world”, with Internet browers Firefox and Safari no longer using tracking cookies.
Google – the world’s biggest search engine – was set to follow suit next year, although that move looks to be delayed.
James said the Goggle decision “is a temporary delay to the inevitable death of the cookie but the industry has already moved on to new approaches and 4D is at the centre of this new privacy first ad ecosystem.”
The Covid-19 pandemic “doubled-down the shift to digital” James said.
“Businesses need to transform faster and adapt faster, especiallywhen it comes to connnecting best with their consumers and that’s where SIlverBullet operates,” he explains.
Revenue at the grew 28 per cent across the pandemic, the chief executive and co-founder said.
James said he wasn’t put off by the recent headlines of UK tech IPOs stumbling on debut.
“We’re very confident about the first day’s trading…we feel that we valued the company very fairly and there’s a lot of growth to be had. We’re in the right place at the right time: We’re very focussed on solving a problem around privacy, which is a very big global problem”.
The global digital advertising market, which is expected to reach $526bn by 2024.