[Germany] Berlin-based mobile ad network madvertise has closed a series A round from Earlybird Venture Capital and the startup’s previous investor and co-founder Team Europe Ventures. The actual amount isn’t being disclosed but is said to be in the “medium single-digit million Euros” range.
The new funding will be used by madvertise to leverage its strong position in the growing mobile advertising market in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and for further international expansion, says the company.
Madvertise offers advertisers a mobile ad marketplace with a range of targeting options including by demographic, content topics, defined handset models, operating systems, time, geographic location, and frequency capping.
For mobile app developers there’s the opportunity to monetize their apps through advertising, obviously, but perhaps controversially, madvertise also offers its KatAPPult service which claims to guarantee app developers a top 25 position in their respective app store category. This can be achieved, says the company, for a cost of €10k.
It works by advertising the app in question in other mobile apps that use madvertise’s ad network to increase visibility and kick-start the traction required to achieve a top 25 listing. And while this means that an mobile app developer is essentially spending money to make money, madvertise is keen to point out that the return in terms of increased app downloads and sales far exceeds those generated by advertising alone. That’s because the increased visibility that results from moving closer to a top 25 listing generates up to four additional downloads for every one achieved through the actual ads, claims the company.