Vibe.co, a Paris-based startup that helps businesses carry out targeted advertising via streaming platforms, has raised a $50m Series B at a $410m valuation.
The all-equity round was led by UK-based investor Hedosophia, an early backer of Spotify, Uber and Alibaba, and included participation from Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky’s fund QuantumLight. Supercell CEO Ilkaa Paananen’s fund Illusian also participated, as well as European VCs Singular and Elaia. It brings total funding raised by the startup to nearly $80m.
Streaming is fast becoming the main form of TV viewership: it accounts for nearly half of watch time in the US, more than broadcast and cable combined.
Launched in 2021, Vibe.co has built a self-serve platform for businesses to create and distribute targeted ads on streaming platforms, and to track the performance of their advertising campaigns. “We’ve created the Facebook Ads of streaming TV,” Vibe.co cofounder Arthur Querou tells Sifted.
Hyper-targeted advertising for TV
Using purchase signals and behavioural data, Vibe.co creates consumer profiles based on which it then matches brands with advertising space on streaming platforms. The platform also includes an AI-powered video editor to create ad content, enabling users to track and optimise the performance of their ad campaigns.
The startup is tracking 120m consumer profiles to date, entirely in the US. It also has partnerships with most major streaming platforms, except YouTube, “for obvious reasons,” says Querou (YouTube is owned by Google, which has its own digital advertising platform).
The company says the platform delivers an average 250% return on ad spend and 20% sale lift. More than 5k brands use the technology, ranging from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to political groups through local businesses, franchises, small marketing agencies and sellers of consumer products in sectors like fashion and wellness.
Vibe.co takes a commission when brands buy advertising space. The startup has now seen revenue run-rate hit $100m and expects to reach profitability by the end of the year. Querou says the goal is to reach $1bn in annual revenues by 2028.
Growing in the US
Although more than a third of Vibe.co’s team of 140 employees is based in Paris, the startup has focused its activities in the US, where it currently employs 90 people. “We haven’t displayed a single ad on a TV outside the US,” says Querou.
“You can’t create a leader, especially in advertising, from Europe,” he says. “You have to go to the US.”
With the Series B, the startup will double down on growth across the Atlantic, where it plans to recruit some “very big profiles”, says Querou.
