Welp MagazineThe demand-side platform (DSP) and its prevalence in the digital marketing ecosystem were born out of necessity. The need to outsource available demand existed for years but for whatever reason was never addressed directly by publishers and marketers until the rise of programmatic advertising. As a consequence of the supply-side auction, there was an acute need for a way to aggregate publisher inventory before demand occurred, remove some of the volatility of the marketplace, and ultimately alleviate some of the supply concerns to the point where scale became more achievable. The solution, of course, was to round up demand through the deployment of DSPs.
What we ended up with is a market dominated by very large, well-capitalized companies with billions of dollars in the bank (whether locked in or available cash) and hungry for more opportunities to expand their rapidly growing businesses. But this is only half the story. While the top dogs of the DSP market work to gain access to as much inventory as possible, there is a secondary market that has arisen to make up the difference. Hundreds of others are also vying for seat at the table, and as a result, it is not uncommon for a DSP to take up the entire stack or just the demand side.
It wasn’t all that long ago that DSPs were a pseudo-submarket within the display ad industry. At that point, the world didn’t seem to care so much about DSPs. Market share was dominated by the same handful of players with the top three, AppNexus, Rubicon Project, and MediaMath, holding nearly all of the power. Fast forward to today and the landscape has changed drastically. DSPs, along with ad exchanges, have become a key piece of the display advertising industry pie and are looking to continue onward and upward. To do so requires a concerted effort from the companies within the space, a willingness to understand the ever-evolving demands of the market, and a desire to remain competitive. Add to this the advent of header bidding, and demand’s need for a DSP presence becomes all the more pressing. The rise of header bidding solutions has revolutionized the way DSPs operate in the display advertising industry. Header bidding solutions have truly transformed the game!
This list is meant as an overview of some of the most innovative, well-funded, dynamic, and interesting DSP companies in the business. I have compiled a list of 32 different companies to follow.
1. Mobilewalla
The idea behind this startup: Mobilewalla is the world’s most trusted source for independent mobile audience data at scale.
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Advertising, Analytics, Big Data, Digital Marketing, DSP, Mobile
Founders: Anindya Datta, Jay Clark
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2. Ubimo
The idea behind this startup: Ubimo is a Location Intelligence SaaS platform that lets enterprises of all sizes see and act on offline consumer behavior.
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Ad Retargeting, Ad Targeting, Advertising Platforms, Digital Marketing, DSP, Location Based Services, Machine Learning, Marketing, SaaS, Software
Founders: Gilad Amitai, Oded Poncz, Ran Ben-Yair, Udi Graff
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3. Bidease
The idea behind this startup: Bidease is a mobile DSP that provides advertisers with access to the entire mobile ecosystem through mobile publishers and exchanges.
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Advertising, Advertising Platforms, App Marketing, DSP, Machine Learning, Mobile Advertising
Founders: Alexandr Kukuliev, Boris Abaev
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4. Bidmind by Fiksu
The idea behind this startup: BidMind, a self-serve platform for marketing on CTV, launched by Fiksu, a renowned, cross-environment programmatic platform.
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Industries: Analytics, Apps, DSP, Mobile Advertising
Founders: – –
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5. Epom Ad Server
The idea behind this startup: Epom Ad Server is an all-in-all ad management platform designed to make a difference. Major products include Epom ad server & Epom DSP.
Headquarters: Kiev, Kyyivs’ka Oblast’, Ukraine
Industries: Ad Network, Ad Server, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, DSP, Mobile Advertising, Video Advertising
Founders: Alex Lunkov, Anton Ruin, Sergiy Chudnovkyy
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6. Emerse
The idea behind this startup: Emerse is a Demand Side Platform (DSP) for programmatic media buying.
Headquarters: Lund, Skane Lan, Sweden
Industries: Ad Retargeting, Ad Server, Ad Targeting, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, Brand Marketing, Digital Marketing, DSP, Machine Learning, Marketing
Founders: Carl-Johan Grund
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7. EYWAMEDIA
The idea behind this startup: EYWAMEDIA is an engage tech venture across multiple screens for brands and broadcasters!
Headquarters: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore
Industries: Ad Targeting, Advertising Platforms, Analytics, Big Data, Broadcasting, Digital Signage, DSP
Founders: Ansh Chaudhary, Ramasubramaniya Raja
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8. Acculis
The idea behind this startup: Acculis makes building design information transparent and visible to all the important parties involved in the construction of a building.
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Big Data, Construction, DSP, Information Technology, Smart Building, Software
Founders: Ada Slusarczyk, Christopher Lysiuk, Darren Yee, Nicholas Molinski
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9. Downstream.ai (Acq. by Snap, Inc.)
The idea behind this startup: Building the most scalable, self-serve mobile programmatic advertising solution for the world’s fastest growing businesses.
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Artificial Intelligence, DSP, Mobile Advertising
Founders: AJ Yeakel, Brendan Lyall, Jianfeng Wang, Minglei Xu
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10. OptAim
The idea behind this startup: OptAim is a mobile marketing solution provider
Headquarters: Beijing, Beijing, China
Industries: DSP, Mobile
Founders: Jian Tang
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11. inPowered
The idea behind this startup: inPowered is the content amplification platform of choice for the world’s leading brands.
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Content Discovery, Content Marketing, Digital Media, DSP, Social Media Advertising
Founders: Peyman Nilforoush, Pirouz Nilforoush
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12. PX
The idea behind this startup: PX is a predictive customer acquisition platform
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Digital Marketing, DSP, Lead Generation, Marketing, Marketplace, SaaS
Founders: Bas Offers
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13. MANTIS Ad Network
The idea behind this startup: The most advanced digital marketing platform dedicated to the developing, legal cannabis industry. Built for display, native, and video.
Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States
Industries: Ad Exchange, Ad Network, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Cannabis, Digital Marketing, DSP
Founders: Matt Price, Paris Holley
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14. travel audience GmbH
The idea behind this startup: travel audience GmbH is the world’s leading data driven travel advertising platform.
Headquarters: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Industries: Advertising, DSP, Mobile Advertising
Founders: Unknown
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15. Perengo
The idea behind this startup: Perengo is a programmatic recruitment automation and analytics platform for performance-conscious recruiters.
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Ad Network, Advertising, Analytics, DSP, Employment, Human Resources, Recruiting, Social Recruiting
Founders: Artur Lapinsch, Erik Wagner, Mike Kofi Okyere
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16. Infectious Media
The idea behind this startup: Infectious Media is an international programmatic agency that partners with global brands to deliver effective & efficient media campaigns.
Headquarters: London, England, United Kingdom
Industries: Advertising, Auctions, Digital Media, DSP
Founders: Martin Kelly
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17. Zads
The idea behind this startup: Technology and artificial intelligence company specializing in solutions for media and advertising
Headquarters: Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Industries: Ad Exchange, Advertising Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Digital Media, DSP, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, TV
Founders: Bruna Feijó, Bruno Pacheco
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18. Blingby
The idea behind this startup: Video and Live-Streaming Interactive Technology that also offers programmatic-ready ad units
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Advertising, Digital Entertainment, Digital Media, DSP, Social Media Advertising, Video, Video Streaming
Founders: Marcia Favale, Robert Stanicic
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19. Playdigo
The idea behind this startup: Design Driven Programmatic DSP
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, DSP, Mobile Advertising
Founders: Daniel Ehevich
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20. TAB
The idea behind this startup: TAB specializes in digital media advertising, DSP, adnetwork, internal media buyers, and advertising agency sales.
Headquarters: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Industries: Ad Network, Ad Targeting, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Affiliate Marketing, DSP, Marketing, Mobile Advertising, News, Video Advertising
Founders: Klaus Markefsky, Matthias Lesch, Scott Park
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21. WMG International
The idea behind this startup: Adtech
Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States
Industries: Ad Exchange, Ad Server, Ad Targeting, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Digital Marketing, DSP
Founders: Unknown
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22. Auctera
The idea behind this startup: Auctera is build by a team of ad technology experts with 66+ years of combined experience in online marketing & technology solutions
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Advertising, DSP
Founders: Unknown
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23. Unidesq
The idea behind this startup: Unidesq enables global brands to manage leading technologies of the programmatic advertising ecosystem with one platform.
Headquarters: Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Industries: Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Digital Media, DSP, Marketing Automation, Real Time
Founders: Christian Ulitzka
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24. Nouslogic
The idea behind this startup: NousLogic provides IOT solutions to manage events and access to your home.
Headquarters: Irvine, California, United States
Industries: DSP, Information Technology, Internet of Things
Founders: Unknown
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25. adlicious
The idea behind this startup: Independent Programmatic Powerhouse supporting marketers with strategic thinking & audience precision in the world of data driven marketing
Headquarters: Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Industries: Ad Retargeting, Ad Targeting, Advertising, Analytics, Brand Marketing, DSP, Marketing Automation, Mobile, Semantic Web, Social, Video
Founders: David Lange, Viktor Eichmann
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26. 1Advertising Global GmbH.
The idea behind this startup: Reach your audience with all Tier 1 publishers, gathered under your fingertips.
Headquarters: Unknown
Industries: Ad Network, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, DSP, Mobile Advertising, Publishing
Founders: Unknown
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26. Elegance
The idea behind this startup: Elegance Technologies is a private Indian firm based in Bangalore the silicon valley of India.
Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Industries: DSP, Electronics, Loyalty Programs, Product Design, Software
Founders: Unknown
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27. Peak 226 DSP
The idea behind this startup: Results Driven DSP – Programmatic Buying for Display & Video
Headquarters: New York, New York, United States
Industries: Advertising Platforms, DSP, Mobile Advertising, SaaS, Video Advertising
Founders: Unknown
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28. Oxonux Digital Media Pvt Ltd
The idea behind this startup: Oxonux is a self-serve, mobile advertising DSP platform for programmatic media buying of real-time bidding (oRTB) inventory.
Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Industries: Ad Network, Ad Server, Ad Targeting, Advertising, DSP, Mobile, Mobile Advertising
Founders: Unknown
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29. Celerum Digital Pte. Ltd
The idea behind this startup: OpenRTB based ad exchange. White label RTB platform providers. Working with DSPs and SSPs programatically.
Headquarters: Unknown
Industries: Ad Exchange, Ad Network, DSP
Founders: Unknown
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30. Villca Solutions LLC
The idea behind this startup: We develop Machine Learning and AI algorithms for the healthcare, retail and wearables industry
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, DSP, Internet of Things, Machine Learning
Founders: Abel Villca Roque
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31. Ripe
The idea behind this startup: Connecting cannabis brands with customers
Headquarters: Unknown
Industries: Ad Network, Advertising, Cannabis, DSP
Founders: Unknown
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32. DigitalBox
The idea behind this startup: The leading audio advertising network in Russia and the largest digitalaudio AdExchange.
Headquarters: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation
Industries: Ad Network, Advertising, Advertising Platforms, Audio, DSP, Marketing
Founders: Pavel Rogozhin
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