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§ Private Profile · Durham, NC, USA
API infrastructure provider for custom ad platforms, enabling retailers and marketplaces to build and manage retail media networks.
Kevel has raised $44.6M across 4 funding rounds.
Key people at Kevel.
Kevel has raised $44.6M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Kevel, a Durham, North Carolina-based company, provides API-based infrastructure for organizations to build custom ad platforms, specializing in sponsored listings, native ads, internal promotions, and retail media networks. Their Retail Media Cloud enables retailers and marketplaces to launch, scale, and manage in-house ad solutions, allowing them to control first-party data and enhance shopper experiences independently from major ad tech providers. The company secured $23 million in Series C funding in March 2024 to accelerate its expansion within the retail media sector. Kevel's client roster includes prominent names such as The Home Depot, iFood, Edmunds, Delivery Hero, Yelp, and Chewy. Key investors in the company include Fulcrum Equity Partners, Godwin Capital Group, and Commerce Ventures, while Puja Rios recently joined as President/COO. Founded in 2010 by James Avery, the organization initially operated under the name Adzerk.
Kevel has raised $44.6M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Kevel's investors include Fulcrum Equity Partners, Commerce Ventures, dunnhumby Ventures, Godwin Capital Group, Iberis Capital, JARS Labs, MathCapital, AperiamVentures, Bornschein & keine Töchter, Capnamic Ventures, Coelius Capital, Iris Capital.
Kevel has raised $44.6M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $23.0M Series C in March 2024.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 2024 | $23M Series C | Fulcrum Equity Partners | Commerce Ventures, Dunnhumby Ventures, Godwin Capital Group, Iberis Capital | Announced |
| Dec 14, 2021 | $10M Series B | Fulcrum Equity Partners | Commerce Ventures, Jars Labs, Math Capital | Announced |
| Dec 1, 2020 | $11M Series A | — | Aperiamventures, Bornschein & Keine Töchter, Capnamic Ventures, Coelius Capital, Iris Capital, Math Capital, SignalFire, Sommet AB, Summit Partners, Commerce Ventures, Food Retail Ventures, Fulcrum Equity Partners | Announced |
| Jul 1, 2011 | $650K Seed | — | Curie.bio, Global Innovation Fund, Mparticle, Operator Partners, Social Starts, Teamworthy Ventures, Vayner RSE, Josh Abramowitz, Tamim Mourad, BOB Senoff, Brian Handly, NAT Turner, Neil Patel, Peter Horan, Zach Weinberg, Great Oaks Venture Capital | Announced |
Kevel is an ad tech company that builds the Retail Media Cloud, a suite of API-based infrastructure tools enabling retailers, publishers, and brands to launch, manage, and scale custom ad platforms for sponsored listings, native ads, internal promotions, and retail media networks.[1][2][3][5] It serves commerce leaders like Ticketmaster, Yelp, Strava, Klarna, iFood, and Dollar General, solving the problem of dependency on big tech ad giants (Google, Amazon, Facebook) by giving full control over first-party data, AI-powered audience segmentation, campaign management, and omnichannel ad serving—deployable in as little as 14 days.[1][2][4][5] Kevel's growth momentum includes powering 20x ad revenue increases for clients like iFood, industry awards (e.g., MarTech Breakthrough 2022, AdExchanger finalist 2024), and partnerships underscoring the retail media boom.[2][5]
Kevel was founded in 2010 as Adzerk by software engineer James Avery, who created it to address gaps in ad management tech for his own network, starting with JavaScript-based serving before pivoting to server-side APIs as the internet's future.[1][3][4] Avery, now CEO, led the evolution from a basic ad server to comprehensive infrastructure APIs for custom ad products; the company rebranded to Kevel in December 2020 to emphasize empowering brands against ad tech monopolies.[1][3][4] Early traction came from recognizing API-driven ads' potential, with pivotal moments like building tools for diverse digital properties (websites, apps, video, DOOH) and launching resources like the Ad Platform Academy to drive customer success.[3][4]
Kevel rides the retail media networks (RMN) trend, where retailers leverage first-party data for targeted ads amid cookie deprecation and privacy shifts, capturing budgets from traditional digital ads.[1][2][5] Timing is ideal as RMNs grow rapidly—retailers like Dollar General build in-house vs. relying on walled gardens—fueled by market forces like AI personalization, omnichannel commerce, and advertiser demand for measurable ROI.[1][5] Kevel influences the ecosystem by democratizing ad tech for mid-market players, fostering user-first monetization, and setting standards through tools that enhance shopper experiences while challenging big tech dominance.[3][4]
Kevel is poised to expand as retail media hits $100B+ globally, with AI enhancements in segmentation and automation driving deeper integrations for quick-commerce and DOOH.[2][5] Trends like fluid retail contexts and predictive ML will shape its path, potentially amplifying influence via more partnerships and academy resources for in-house ad platforms.[4][5] As brands prioritize differentiation, Kevel's APIs position it to further empower revenue growth, tying back to its core mission of helping reclaim the internet from ad monopolies.[3]
Key people at Kevel.