Topsort raises $20 million Series A to further scale its clean advertising platform

AI and machine learning-based tech startup Topsort has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Upload Ventures and returning seed round investors, Quiet Capital and Pear Ventures. The latest funding round sees the three-year-old startup’s valuation at $150 million. 

Topsort plans to use the funding to expand its clean advertising platform, distinguished by its avoidance of intrusive third-party cookie tracking and privacy-invasive data practices. This marks a substantial departure from traditional advertising practices and represents a stride towards democratizing auction-based advertising, a domain previously dominated by industry giants such as Google and Amazon. 

“This funding round is further fueling our mission to accelerate the clean advertising revolution using AI and new age machine learning technology. Only one part of what’s to come is the democratization of auction-based advertising technology into Bidless formats, which previously had a much higher bar of entry and amassed an insane amount of profit for some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley,” said Topsort CEO and co-founder Regina Ye. “With Topsort, we hope to democratize the access to KPI-driven, efficient and transparent media in the new age of post-cookies to both enterprise retailers, top brands and agencies, as well as small, long-tail sellers alike. Advertisers of all shapes and sizes can benefit from a highly profitable ad business that works for everyone within the ecosystem.”

Founded in 2021, Topsort is led by co-founder and CEO Regina Ye and the role of CTO is filled by co-founder Francisco Larrain. The company secured $8.6 million in a seed round back in 2022. Its notable customers include Glovo, L’Oreal, Unilever, Poshmark, Coca-Cola, and Philips.