Local advertising programmatic platform creator ZypMedia said it raised $5.6 million in a Series C funding round that includes previous investor Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The round was led by Archer Venture Capital and also included another investor U.S. Venture Partners.
In addition to Sinclair, ZypMedia works with Univision’s stations.
Proceeds from the funding will be used to develop and launch new products and double the size of ZypMedia’s staff in the U.S. and internationally over the coming 12 months. ZypMedia has 35 employees in the U.S. and 50 off shore.
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“We conceived and built ZypMedia to address a large and underserved segment of the advertising sector — local businesses," says Aman Sareen, co-founder and CEO of ZypMedia. "Utilizing the ZypMedia platform, media companies can offer local advertisers the same buying power as large national brands, enabling them to participate in the digital media and OTT revolution.”
Sareen founded ZypMedia with his college roommate Ramandeep Ahuja and media executive Mark Goldman. It looks to take advantage as some of the $150 billion in local ad spending shifts from traditional media to digital and over the top.
ZypMedia works with legacy media companies such as Sinclair and Univision, giving them scaled digital and OTT ad inventory to sell to their TV clients.
"ZypMedia has enabled us to diversify our offerings for local advertisers," says Sinclair chief revenue officer Rob Weisbord. "The ability to offer our local advertisers cutting-edge products such as OTT is very powerful as it allows them to complement their linear television buys, leveling the playing field and putting them on par with national advertisers. Most importantly, ZypMedia helps us empower local advertisers to effectively engage with their audiences across all devices."
Over its four years in business, ZypMedia says its revenues have been growing 100% per year.
“Not only have Aman and Ramandeep created a superior tech stack for delivering local advertising, they’ve also developed a really smart and defensible business model, partnering with local media companies to act as their direct sales force,” says John Hadl, managing director of Archer Capital.
