The advertising industry is evolving faster than ever, driven by new technologies, shifting consumer behaviors, and the growing demand for personalized marketing. In this competitive landscape, innovative startups are stepping up to reshape how brands connect with their audiences.
Since 2020, a new wave of advertising companies has emerged, leveraging artificial intelligence, data-driven insights, and creative automation to revolutionize the way businesses market their products. Many of these companies have successfully secured funding ranging from $1 million to $5 million, proving their potential to disrupt the industry.
In this blog, we’ll highlight 10 promising advertising startups founded after 2020 that have recently raised significant funding. Whether they’re pioneering new ad tech solutions, refining digital marketing strategies, or creating next-gen advertising platforms, these startups are the ones to watch in the coming years.
Meet the Next Big Players in Advertising
As digital marketing evolves, new startups are leveraging AI, automation, and data-driven strategies to reshape advertising. With funding between $1M and $5M, these companies are solving key industry challenges and attracting investor attention.
Let’s explore 10 promising advertising startups founded after 2020 that are set to make a lasting impact!
| Company | Founded | Location | Employees | Last Funding | Last Funding Date | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GetCrux | 2022 | Dover, DE, USA | 1-10 | $500K | Mar 1, 2024 | $2.56M |
| PilotDesk | 2023 | New York, NY, USA | 11-50 | $3.19M | May 16, 2024 | $3.19M |
| Wizard Perks | 2024 | Chicago, IL, USA | 1-10 | $2.5M | Oct 29, 2024 | $2.5M |
| Olyzon | 2024 | New York, NY, USA | 11-50 | €3M | Jun 25, 2024 | €3M |
| Elly Analytics | 2022 | Palo Alto, CA, USA | 11-50 | $1M | Jul 22, 2024 | $1M |
| Glui | 2024 | Atlanta, GA, USA | 11-50 | $1.87M | Mar 26, 2024 | $1.87M |
| LunchTable | 2020 | Cincinnati, OH, USA | 1-10 | $2.4M | Jun 18, 2024 | $2.4M |
| BlueVerse | 2021 | Lubbock, TX, USA | 11-50 | $1.51M | Jul 18, 2024 | $1.51M |
| ShiftNOW | 2022 | Charleston, SC, USA | 1-10 | $2M | Feb 14, 2024 | $2.5M |
| Enhencer | 2020 | San Francisco, CA, USA | 11-50 | $1M | Apr 5, 2024 | $1.89M |
1. GetCrux
- Founded: 2022
- Location: Dover, Delaware, USA
- Industry: Advertising, Analytics
- Number of Employees: 1-10
- Last Funding Amount: $500K (Latest Round: March 1, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $2.56M
GetCrux is an AI Copilot for Performance Marketing, designed to help media buyers make data-driven decisions effortlessly. By analyzing campaign performance in real time, GetCrux provides actionable insights, automates repetitive tasks, and optimizes marketing strategies. Its AI-powered platform ensures that advertisers take the right actions at the right time, ultimately improving efficiency and boosting results.
With an intuitive interface and seamless integration into existing marketing workflows, GetCrux empowers businesses to maximize their return on ad spend (ROAS). Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, GetCrux streamlines media buying and helps marketers achieve better outcomes with less manual effort.
2. PilotDesk
- Founded: October 2023
- Location: New York, New York, USA
- Industry: Advertising, Marketing
- Number of Employees: 11-50
- Last Funding Amount: $3.19M (Latest Round: May 16, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $3.19M
PilotDesk advances ad operations by automating tedious processes, enabling marketing teams to focus on strategy and creativity. Its AI-driven platform streamlines campaign management, reduces manual workload, and enhances efficiency, allowing businesses to scale their advertising efforts effortlessly.
By leveraging automation, PilotDesk helps advertisers optimize performance, improve accuracy, and maximize return on ad spend (ROAS). Whether handling media buying, performance tracking, or campaign adjustments, the platform simplifies complex operations, empowering marketers with real-time insights and strategic recommendations.
3. Wizard Perks
- Founded: September 4, 2024
- Location: Chicago, USA
- Industry: Advertising
- Number of Employees: 1-10
- Last Funding Amount: $2.5M (Latest Round: October 29, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $2.5M
Wizard Perks is the first free AI-powered rewards platform custom-built for corporate employees. Designed to enhance workplace engagement, it provides personalized perks and incentives tailored to employees’ needs. By leveraging AI, Wizard Perks ensures that companies can offer meaningful rewards that drive motivation and productivity.
With an intuitive and seamless interface, the platform integrates with corporate benefits programs, making it easy for organizations to boost employee satisfaction and retention. Wizard Perks is redefining workplace rewards by offering a smarter, data-driven approach to employee engagement.
4. Olyzon
- Founded: 2024
- Location: New York, USA
- Industry: Advertising
- Number of Employees: 11-50
- Last Funding Amount: €3M (Latest Round: June 25, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: €3M
Olyzon specializes in adtech solutions for Connected TV (CTV), helping advertisers, content owners, and distributors maximize their return on investment (ROI). By leveraging cutting-edge technology, Olyzon enhances brand uplift and optimizes user engagement through data-driven advertising strategies.
Its platform delivers highly targeted and measurable advertising solutions, ensuring that brands can reach the right audience with precision. Olyzon’s innovative approach to CTV advertising empowers businesses to achieve greater visibility, improved engagement, and higher conversion rates in an increasingly digital-first landscape.
5. Elly Analytics, Inc.
- Founded: August 30, 2022
- Location: Palo Alto, USA
- Industry: Advertising
- Number of Employees: 11-50
- Last Funding Amount: $1M (Latest Round: July 22, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $1M
Elly Analytics provides full-funnel marketing analytics with advanced attribution, empowering businesses to track and optimize their advertising performance. The platform delivers real-time insights through customizable dashboards, enabling marketers to measure campaign effectiveness across multiple channels.
By leveraging AI-driven attribution models, Elly Analytics helps brands understand user behavior, improve customer acquisition strategies, and maximize return on ad spend (ROAS). Its intuitive interface and deep data integration make it an essential tool for modern performance-driven marketing teams.
6. Glui
- Founded: 2024
- Location: Atlanta, USA
- Industry: Advertising
- Number of Employees: 11-50
- Last Funding Amount: $1.87M (Latest Round: March 26, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $1.87M
Glui is an integrated adtech platform that revolutionizes advertising by offering interactive ads on social media posts and website banners. Its innovative platform allows brands to engage users with dynamic, interactive content, enhancing user experience and driving higher engagement rates.
By combining cutting-edge technology and user-centric design, Glui helps businesses maximize the impact of their online advertising campaigns. The platform enables marketers to create more engaging, personalized ads that resonate with their target audience, leading to better conversion rates and ROI.
7. LunchTable
- Founded: January 1, 2020
- Location: Cincinnati, USA
- Industry: Advertising
- Number of Employees: 1-10
- Last Funding Amount: $2.4M (Latest Round: June 18, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $2.4M
LunchTable is a fan activation platform that helps brands turn casual fans into loyal brand ambassadors. Through targeted campaigns and data-driven strategies, LunchTable empowers businesses to engage with their audience on a deeper level and drive long-term brand loyalty.
The platform focuses on mobilizing social media influencers, transforming everyday fans into powerful advocates. By leveraging marketing strategies and creative advertising, LunchTable creates impactful connections between brands and their consumers, boosting brand awareness and customer retention.
8. BlueVerse
- Founded: 2021
- Location: Lubbock, Texas, USA
- Industry: Advertising, Consulting, Marketing
- Number of Employees: 11-50
- Last Funding Amount: $1.51M (Latest Round: July 18, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $1.51M
BlueVerse specializes in providing innovative solutions for local brick-and-mortar businesses to thrive in the digital world. The platform connects businesses with customers through features like deals, menu exploration, waitlist management, and customer reviews, enhancing the customer experience.
By offering a mobile application designed to streamline operations and increase visibility, BlueVerse empowers businesses with the tools they need to engage with their audience effectively. The company focuses on fostering a community where both businesses and consumers can interact seamlessly, ensuring mutual growth and long-term success.
9. ShiftNOW
- Founded: July 2022
- Location: Charleston, South Carolina, USA
- Industry: Advertising Platforms, Brand Marketing, Software
- Number of Employees: 1-10
- Last Funding Amount: $2M (Latest Round: February 14, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $2.5M
ShiftNOW is a gig economy platform designed to address the hospitality industry’s most challenging workforce issues. It provides a flexible staffing solution for one-time, recurring, or temp-to-hire work, enabling hospitality businesses to manage their staffing needs with ease. The platform connects top-tier talent with opportunities for flexible, on-demand work, empowering workers to earn money on their own terms.
By offering an easy-to-use platform, ShiftNOW makes it simple for businesses to access qualified staff and for workers to find jobs that fit their schedule. The solution is particularly beneficial in hospitality and warehousing sectors, offering businesses greater control and efficiency in managing their workforce.
10. Enhencer
- Founded: September 2020
- Location: San Francisco, USA
- Industry: Advertising Platforms
- Number of Employees: 11-50
- Last Funding Amount: $1M (Latest Round: April 5, 2024)
- Total Funding Amount: $1.89M
Enhencer simplifies e-commerce advertising by using AI-driven algorithms to find the perfect target audience for Facebook, Google, and TikTok ads. Their platform analyzes website and mobile app visitors in real time, segmenting them to provide the most relevant audiences for your campaigns. This approach results in increased ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), higher sales, and significant savings on ad budgets.
Enhencer’s AI-powered targeting can generate at least double the ad revenue for the same budget when compared to industry-standard audiences, making it a powerful tool for performance marketing and e-commerce businesses.
Conclusion
The advertising landscape is rapidly evolving, with a new wave of startups leveraging cutting-edge technologies like AI, automation, and data-driven insights to redefine the way brands connect with consumers. These 10 promising companies, founded after 2020 and successfully raising between $1 million and $5 million in funding, are leading the charge in reshaping digital marketing, ad tech, and brand engagement.
From AI-powered performance marketing platforms to innovative ad solutions for Connected TV and interactive ads, these startups are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in advertising. As they continue to grow and disrupt traditional marketing models, businesses that adopt these emerging tools will gain a competitive edge in an increasingly digital and personalized world.
As the industry continues to evolve, these startups are certainly ones to watch in the coming years. Their innovative approaches to solving key industry challenges are paving the way for a more efficient, effective, and engaging advertising future.
FAQs
Q. What industries do these startups operate in?
Answer: The startups featured in this blog operate in the advertising, marketing, and ad tech industries. Some also focus on specific niches like performance marketing, Connected TV, employee rewards, and fan activation.
Q. Can these platforms be integrated with existing marketing systems?
Answer: Yes, many of the platforms featured in this blog, such as GetCrux and PilotDesk, offer seamless integration with existing marketing workflows and systems, making it easier for businesses to adopt these technologies without disrupting their current operations.
Q. What can we expect from these startups in the future?
Answer: As these startups continue to innovate, we can expect even more advanced tools for optimizing ad campaigns, better audience targeting, and more personalized advertising solutions. Their growth and impact will likely continue to transform the advertising industry in the years to come.