Online video ad tech firm Coull has closed $4 million for its latest financing round, TechCrunch reported.
The Bristol-based company, which has shied away from venture capital investment, raised the latest round from angel investors, similar to its previous round. The startup's current backers participated in the round which adds to Coull's $12 million funding total raised so far. The biggest single investment came from Paul Fraser. It also collected $2 million in a prior round led by Hargreaves Lansdown Co-Founder Peter Hargreaves. John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners is also another angel backer of Coull, the report said.
As part of its expansion plans, Coull will also be opening a second office in the US, in New York. Its first office is in Santa Barbara. Former Yahoo international Director of Program Management Michelle Melisaratos will be one of the first people who will be working in the New York office where she will serve as Global Head of Programmatic AdOps. Ben Humphry, the Head of Demand for Europe, will also be working in New York. Humphry is a digital media veteran who also previously headed MSN's International Sales Operations, the report said.
Coull provides a platform where publishers and advertisers can tag various products found in videos, enabling users to click through and actually purchase products from the video. What makes it unique is that companies only pay when users actually engage with the video so that companies spend for results and not merely on impressions. In Europe, Coull's roster of advertisers includes Nike, Renault, Unilever and Agent Provocateur. The company said that this year, it will be profitable and will have revenues of $20 million, the report said.
Coull Founder and Chief Executive Officer Irfon Watkins said they are unique in the market. He told TechCrunch, "As crazy as it sounds we don't have competitors. The main objection is to the overlay format when we do get an objection. Overlays have been around for a long time but they've often been discarded. We are sprinkling them with data and making them relevant again."
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