SUBLIME SKINZ EXPANDS US OPERATIONS WITH $5M FUNDING IN RESPONSE TO INDUSTRY CONCERNS OVER VIEWABILITY
Digital skin-based ad specialist Sublime Skinz Secures significant investment from French Firm ISAI to facilitate US expansion and respond to market demand for increased viewability.
Sublime Skinz, specialist in high-impact, non-intrusive digital ad formats, today announced it has raised $5m in growth equity from ISAI, the French entrepreneurs’ fund. The funding will accelerate the deployment of the company’s ambitious technological roadmap and international development, particularly in the US, with a fourth office to open in New York before the end of the year.
To drive the project alongside the six cofounders at Sublime Skinz, two ad tech specialists will join the board of directors: Ouriel Ohayon (Appsfire, Techcrunch), based in San Francisco, and Fred Montagnon(Overblog, Teads, Secret Media), based in NYC.
Sublime Skinz’ unique platform makes wallpaper formats (Skinz) accessible to everyone across multiple websites. The company’s technology enables publishers to better monetise their inventory, increase the efficiency of advertisers’ campaigns, and offer non-intrusive advertising formats to more than 200 million users each month.
Jean-Marc Pericone, President and Founder of Sublime Skinz, said: “During our first two years of self-financing, we were solicited many times to open up our capital but we were waiting for the right moment and the right partner. This fundraising will enable us to implement our international strategy to address the needs of the global ad industry, and we are pleased to be supported by a partner whose enthusiasm and engagement has been steadfast since the start.”
Pierre Martini, Managing Partner in charge of the growth equity fund at ISAI, commented: “We are delighted to support Sublime Skinz in their next stage of development. We have been impressed by the company’s level of growth, which demonstrates the natural appeal of this universal ad format. Our investment will help the company to deploy its product worldwide, as well as develop its native mobile and DMP offerings. Depending on the pace of development we are prepared to leverage this financing round with debt in order to further advance the capacity of the company – and ultimately – better serve the needs of the ad industry.”
Jean-Francois Rivassou, Investment Director of ISAI, added: “The Sublime Skinz’team hasdemonstrated its capacity to rapidly deploy its technology with a high level of professionalism, which has been recognised by the market. With this round, the entire ISAI network is coming together to support these entrepreneurs and strive towards the company’s growth.”
The Sublime Skinz' team includes around 30 staff who develop its product offering across three offices – Paris (HQ), London, and San Francisco. Its product suite comprises ten formats, all regularly enriched by new innovative products. The latest – VIDEOSKINZTM – offers a new video advertising solution already used by advertisers such as Samsung, Warner, Opel, and Netflix. Future innovations will be announced in the upcoming months, in fields such as interactivity, engagement, and mobile.
Skinadvertising – also known as wallpaper or site takeover – is one of the most qualitative formats on the web: impactful yet non-intrusive, it does not prevent users accessing the site’s content. The format outperforms against key metrics, offering 94% visibility[1], 300% more visual engagement[2], and click rates above 3%[3] – more than 10 times higher than traditional formats.
Sublime Skinz’ innovative technology solves technical implementation and scalability issues of the skin, which until now prevented publishers distributing wallpapers quickly and on a large scale.
Sublime Skinz offers a spectacular synthesis between buying tools (direct and programmatic) and campaign goals (branding and performance). The programmatic development was made possible due to the integration of the format on the largest advertising platforms worldwide, such as Google DBM, MediaMath, AppNexus, and Turn, who have all contributed to evolving this format for use by the largest media buying agencies in Europe.
And the results speak for themselves:
• A three-digit annual growth in turnover
• More than 1,000 campaigns distributed worldwide in 2014 for more than 300 brands and 50 agencies
• More than 2,500 sites are using the platform, reaching more than 200 million users per month
• International awards received in 2014 including World Cup Tech Challenge, Le Web, UBI i/o, BPI excellence
About Sublime Skinz
Founded in December 2012 in Paris, France, by six experienced digital advertising entrepreneurs, Sublime Skinz is the European leader of Skin-advertising. The company offers, since its creation, both direct sales and RTB buying, and provides the perfect match between programmatic advertising and branding and proposes technological solutions with complex formats by creating simple and effective standards that can be used by all. For more information visit www.sublimeskinz.com or follow on twitter: @sublimeskinz
About ISAI
ISAI, the French web entrepreneurs' fund was founded by Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, Stéphane Treppoz and Ouriel Ohayon and is managed by Jean-David Chamboredon (Chairman and CEO), Christophe Raynaud (Managing Partner) and Pierre Martini (Managing Partner). ISAI invests in internet companies that are rigorously selected and actively supports them by sharing their ecosystem. ISAI manages three funds: two venture capital funds launched in 2010 and 2015, and one Growth/LBO fund launched in 2012.
In addition to the founders, ISAI regroups more than eighty entrepreneurs having invested in one or multiple funds, including the founders of 118218, 24h, Abaxia, Admark, Alapage, Alloresto, Aposition, Aufeminin, BDDP, Betclic, BourseDirecte, Boursorama, Chateauonline, Cityvox, Companeo, ComprendreChoisir, Cosmobay, Directinet, DirectPanel, Empruntis, EVE, Fastbooking, Fia-Net, Fortuneo, Freever, Fullsix, Highdeal, Infobebes, Kelkoo, LesJeudis, Micromania Mistergooddeal, Overblog, Netcentrex, Notrefamille, Onedirect, Photoweb, Pick-up Services, Photobox, PressIndex, Priceminister, Prizee, Quantum Advertising, Sarenza, Screentonic, Seloger, ShowRoomPrive, Sophis, ThePhoneHouse, Travelprice, Twenga, Toluna, Ventre-privee, Voyagermoinscher, Webhelp, Wcube.
ISAI Gestion is an investment management firm recognized by the AMF (French Financial Services Authority) that manages more than 140M€. For more information visitwww.isai.fr or follow on twitter: @isai_fr
US Press Contact
Jerem Febvre
T : +14153209807
[1] Source Alenty
[2] Source Sticky
[3] Source DFA, Smartadserver