Goldman Sachs Backs Programmatic Outfit Innovid With $30 Million in Funding

Innovid will use a $30 million investment from Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing to further its interests in the connected TV sector by building what it claims will be the industry’s only “end-to-end CTV platform” and further its global footprint.

The Series E round brings Innovid’s total funding to $95.1 million, including a $12.5 million debt financing round in 2015 and comes at a time when ad-tech financing is said to be difficult to come by, according to many industry observers, with the company describing it as “pre-IPO funding.”

Innovid was unable to provide insight on when any potential IPO might take place, or which stock exchange it could choose to list on, by the time of publication. Any such listing would buck the trend of ad-tech outfits coming off the public markets, such as when Taptica purchased the buy-side of Tremor Video and Sizmek acquired Rocket Fuel in 2017.

In a statement, Zvika Netter, Innovid CEO, said, “With this funding, Innovid will complete the development of the first end-to-end CTV platform creating a more efficient workflow, while solving industry measurement challenges and expanding its global footprint to meet the evolving needs of its international client base for brands, media and creative agencies, and publishers.”

Innovid works with advertisers including Bank of America, Campbell’s and L’Oreal to help deliver video ads across a host of different platforms including Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Roku and Samsung TV, with an emphasis on interactive ad units.

In particular, it also works with the industry to help advertisers scale how they create, deliver and measure ads across different platforms, with Innovid hoping to use the $30 million to further its footprint in the fast-emerging connected TV space.

Hillel Moerman, head of Goldman Sachs’ Private Capital Investing group, added, “Innovid has differentiated video advertising software and technology, and has the scale and the reach to succeed, with access to significant supply beyond CTV, including platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snap and others.”

Ronan Shields

@ronan_shields

Ronan Shields is a reporter for Adweek, focusing on ad-tech.