Adform


Adform is a global digital media advertising technology company. Its operations are headquartered in Europe, and its clients vary in size and industry.
The company was the first pan-European DSP, and has built a reputation for rapid growth, innovation and investing heavily in advanced R&D. All three of the company's original founders are still involved in leadership roles and a Series B round of funding for US$5.5 million was closed in early 2014 followed by a 150 million Danish Kroner investment by Danica Pension in late 2015. In 2018 an IPO was announced, but canceled due to market conditions. Instead of that an external investment of non-disclosed amount by GRO Capital was done in April 2019.

History

In April, 2020, Troels Philip Jensen replaced Gustav Mellentin as CEO of Adform.

Founding

Adform was founded in 2002 in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Gustav Mellentin, Jakob Bak and Stefan Juricic. The company was initially founded to deliver ad serving but later grew to become a media-agnostic tech vendor specializing in banner advertising, mobile advertising, and digital marketing. Adform at first focused exclusively on the buy-side process and worked predominantly with advertisers and agencies. In 2014 Adform launched its stand alone DMP and in 2015 Adform added additional publisher-facing solutions through its Publisher Edge solution. Under the banner of its Integrated Advertising Platform, Adform provides an extensive paid-media offering for advertisers, agencies, consultancies and publishers. The company specializes in Real-time bidding and Programmatic media.

International Expansion

The Nordics

Starting in 2005 Adform began to expand its client base in Norway and Finland. By 2007 the company had established a new office in Lithuania and had expanded into Sweden.

Europe and the UK

The Lithuania office, situated in Vilnius, was opened in 2006 as a result of the founders' relationship with a group of system developers. Today the Vilnius office is Adform's largest and is the base for a large part of the company's technical development, central human resource management, and finance based activities. Other services, such as customer service and account management was originally handled by each country's local office, but moved to Vilnius as well for efficiency.
In 2009 the company launched an office in London, and Gustav Mellentin, the co-founder and CEO of the company, temporarily re-located to oversee the company's expansion into the UK market. The German, Czech, Spanish, Dutch and Belgian markets followed over the next three years.

The US and Eastern Europe

In 2014 Adform raised $5.5 million of series B funding from Via Venture Partners to expand its rich media offering and for expansion into the United States. This led to the launch of two new offices in the US as well as a development center in Belarus and a new office in Poland.
As of January 2016 Adform had 700 employees globally, up from 450 in 2014 and 264 in 2013.

APAC and MENA

Late 2015 and early 2016 was followed by continued expansion with the addition of offices in France, Turkey and Singapore as part of the company's continued focus on servicing an increasingly global client base.
2017 saw Adform further expand its APAC operations with a dedicated office in India.

Lay-Offs 2017

Adform cut 8% of its workforce in 2017, including senior execs across 15 markets. Adform had taken little outside investment and bootstrapped its expansion over the last decade.

Postponed IPO Plans 2018

Adform planned to go public in Q4 2018, but postponed it because of "continued uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets". During the pre-IPO period Adform needed to publisher their financial results:
- operating loss in 2015, 2016 and 2017
- expected operating loss in 2018
- 2017 revenue of 59,5 Mio EUR
- 2018 expected revenue of 68-69 Mio EUR

Lay-Offs 2019

After the strategic investment of GRO Capital and a focus on the US market, Adform sacked 70 employees across Europe.

Product Lines

When Adform launched in 2003 they were focused on providing ad serving which was supplemented by planning in 2005. These two were the Company's primary focus until 2010 when Adform added Rich Media and initiated an intensive R&D focus. This not only led to a significant increase in staff, it also drove the company's expansion into new markets and market areas. In 2011 the company launched its Demand-side platform, which was followed in 2012 with a Private Marketplace. In 2013 the company added a Rich Media DSP and 2014 saw the introduction of their Data Management Platform. In 2015 the company launched its Programmatic Publisher Ad Server, Supply Side Platform, and Automated Guaranteed products. In 2016 Adform expanded with new cross-device offerings, extended digital-out-of-home and programmatic print capabilities. In 2019 Adform re-branded its Advertiser Edge and Publisher Edge offerings as the Integrated Advertising Platform and the Integrated Advertising Platform for Publishers in recognition of the industry's need for more holistic advertising solutions. Adform's dominant product line, the Integrated Advertising Platform, consists of a stand-alone Ad Server, Demand Side Platform, and Data Management Platform which are also purchased and used as a single holistic paid-media platform. 2019 also saw Adform release a new Creative-centered offering, DCO Pro, its own dedicated cross-device solution, and an updated AI solution.
The combination of DSP and DMP as a Strong Performer in both Forrester Wave reports made Adform one of only four advertising technology companies recognized in both reports. 2017 also saw the company become one of the first advertising technology companies, and the first dedicated DSP to secure Media Ratings Council accreditation for viewability measurement across Desktop, Mobile Web and App environments for both Display and Video ads. In 2018 and again in 2019 Adform as featured as a Leader in Gartner's Magical Quadrant for Ad Tech.

Markets

Adform has offices in 26 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia, Romania, Japan, Singapore, India and Turkey.
Adform's clients are media agencies, advertisers, consultancies and publishers.