Geniee, a Japanese adtech startup, reported over the holiday weekend that it raised an undisclosed amount of series D funding from Fenox Venture Capital. The co-founder and CEO of the company, Tomoaki Kudo, said that the raised capital will be utilized by the company to expand its business into China, India and Taiwan.
The adtech startup based in Tokyo was founded in 2010 and currently operates in major countries across Asia including Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It also has joint ventures in Thailand and Malaysia.
The startup has been attracting a lot of investor attention since its founding. It raised an undisclosed amount of funding from SoftBank in October 2014 which was followed by the company entering into a business alliance with the telco. In 2013, Yahoo Japan, Transcosmos and OPT also invested undisclosed amounts into the adtech firm. Previous investments from 2011 and 2012 include US$700,000 from Global Brain and US$1 million from Gree Ventures respectively.
Though the amount Geniee raised is undisclosed, a source with direct knowledge of the situation says it’s in the seven-figure USD range.
Adtech, Geniee’s ad platform basically involves real-time bidding. This, in non-geek terms, is buying and selling of online advertising impressions through auctions in fractions of a second. This is in no way attractive or useful to general consumers but it is an attractive investment target.
According to Tomoaki, this latest capital is a “pre-IPO” round and says his team is gearing up for an exit. He adds that the company is all set to go public in the near future.
