$2.5M Seed Round Led By Mosley Ventures, Birchmere Ventures, Gulfshore Capital and More To Help Save the Free Internet
NEW YORK, NY – Admiral (getadmiral.com) announced its launch and oversubscribed $2.5 million seed round while at the IAB’s Ad Blocking and User Experience Summit in NYC. Admiral is the industry’s most advanced analytics and revenue recovery platform to help premier web and mobile publishers size their ad blocking problem, engage their users to improve ad quality, and automatically recover lost revenue, and Admiral is the first platform built from the ground up to support the IAB’s new DEAL approach and LEAN standards Ad Principles for ad blocking response. Today’s financing from venture capital funds Mosley Ventures, Birchmere Ventures, Gulfshore Capital, and others will accelerate Admiral’s mission to connect users, publishers, and advertisers to improve ad quality and preserve the power of the free internet for generations to come.
Admiral is built for publishers by publishers with years of experience improving ad operations, ad quality, and open standards. Admiral was born from the product team that helped streaming pioneer Grooveshark reach more than 100 million music fans worldwide, winning multiple user choice awards in the process, all while serving billions of high quality ads. Venture Capitalist and Admiral CEO Dan Rua spun Admiral’s team out intact last summer and the team has been testing and rolling out Admiral with select web and mobile publishers.
“Much of what we’ve seen so far in the ‘ad block wars’ include only two sides, ad blockers and ad tech, each building walls for an ad quality problem that instead requires bridges between publishers and users for a long-term solution,” said Dan Rua, CEO of Admiral. “A result of these wars is users with ad blockers may never know when a publisher’s ad quality is actually perfect, because default ad block settings wall off the entire site. Ad-supported content on the Internet has the power to educate children, free nations, and give the little guy a platform to speak truth to power the world over. We at Admiral believe that’s worth protecting, but it requires a unique platform dedicated to helping publishers and users collaborate to preserve the free Internet through a commitment to sustainable advertising.”
Admiral is a member of the IAB Ad Blocking Working Group and Title Sponsor of the IAB Ad Blocking and User Experience Summit. The IAB has taken key steps with their standards DEAL method (Detect, Explain, Ask, Lift/Limit) and LEAN (Light, Encrypted, Ad-Choice, Non-invasive), but publishers also need a configurable DEAL- and LEAN-based platform to reinforce those standards. Admiral’s platform aligns with both standards, and today’s funding will accelerate distribution and partnerships in the U.S., E.U., Asia, Latin America and beyond.
“Some industries have played catchup for more than a decade to figure out where they went wrong with user experience and business models,” said Sean Ammirati, Partner at Birchmere Ventures. “Web content creators and publishers don’t have that luxury of time, and need solutions now that bring together users, content creators, advertisers and publishers for a sustainable future. We’re excited to fund Admiral to be that solution.”
Admiral is available directly from www.getadmiral.com or as a WordPress plugin for web and mobile publishers interested in sizing and recovering revenue losses due to ad blocking. Admiral’s platform provides four modules: Measure (analytics), Engage (DEAL-based user engagement), Recover (LEAN ad servability) and Transact (microtransactions). Admiral Measure is currently free for select publishers to measure their adblock losses, down to the impression and dollar level. Admiral’s revenue recovery modules come with a 100% performance pricing model so net revenue gain is guaranteed. In fact, for a limited time, publishers can register at http://getadmiral.com/qualify today to see if they qualify for up to $1,000,000 of free revenue recovery.
“Admiral’s team has world-class experience building platforms that scale and delight users, and Mosley Ventures are people-backers and believe in teams pursuing big goals,” said John Vecchio, Partner at Mosley Ventures. “Saving the free internet is a pretty audacious goal, and a magnet for great talent. Admiral is hiring, and this funding will enable Admiral to add publisher account management, business development, and other talent to build upon its solid founding team.”
Admiral is also announcing the industry’s first Partner Program to help select adtech providers recover lost revenue across their entire publisher base, and share in that revenue recovery in a performance-based way. Interested partners can apply for participation at http://getadmiral.com/partners or email partners@getadmiral.com.
About Admiral
Admiral is the industry’s most advanced analytics and revenue recovery platform to help premier web and mobile publishers size their adblocking problem, engage their users to improve ad quality, and automatically recover lost revenue. Admiral’s Measure module is free for select publishers to size revenue losses down to the impression and dollar. Admiral’s Engage, Recover, and Transact modules are available with a performance-priced guarantee — publishers only pay when revenue is recovered. Interested publishers and partners are encouraged to visit http://getadmiral.com or request more info from info@getadmiral.com.
About Mosley Ventures
Mosley Ventures is a venture capital fund investing in early stage technology startups in Atlanta and the Southeast. We primarily invest in the following sectors – digital media, mobility, security software, machine learning applications, IoT, and healthcare IT. Sig Mosley is the Managing Partner of Mosley Ventures and since 1990, has been the most prolific southeast investor in 122 startups with 83 liquidity events. Sig is currently the record holder of the largest southeast venture deal with the $5.7 billion acquisition of Tradex by Ariba.
About Birchmere Ventures
Birchmere Ventures, headquartered in Pittsburgh & San Francisco, invests in the best early stage startups across the country. Since 1996, Birchmere has partnered with entrepreneurs to help build high-growth technology companies. The firm has over $250m under management and is proud to have funded innovative companies that make a positive impact while also delivering strong returns for our investors. Birchmere’s companies have achieved a cumulative market valuation of $14 billion.
About Gulfshore Capital
Gulfshore Capital is a private investment firm that works with exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams to grow promising businesses into category leaders. The firm invests in development rather than discovery and concentrates its investments in companies that are in the early stages of revenue generation.
