Gumball raises $10M for its podcasting host-read ad tech platform

Gumball, an advanced ad tech solution from the team behind the famous podcast network Headgum, announced that it has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Union Square Ventures and Good Friends, bringing total funding to $12 million. 

Craft Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners, Animal Capital, Calm Ventures, Gaingels and Riverside Ventures also participated in the funding round. 

Having offices in New York and Los Angeles, Gumball provides a marketplace for advertisers to buy host-read ads directly from podcasters. The company’s current inventory includes hundreds of podcasts and hundreds of independent podcasters and content creators. While in development, Gumball worked with more than 500 brands and delivered more than 15,000 host-read ads.

Gumball COO Amir Cohen said the company plans to use the funding in order to raise its profile as a marketplace for host-read ads. 

“The host-read ad is the most valuable and powerful asset in podcasting, providing authentic, intimate, and endorsement-level messages natively within targeted content,” said Marty Michael, CEO. 

“Despite being equally loved by brands, listeners, and talent, the way campaigns are bought, planned, executed, and tracked is antiquated, gated, and largely unchanged since the dawn of podcasting. Gumball turbo-boosts the medium with a solution that provides the kind of scale and efficiency of programmatic advertising. Today’s funding will allow us to further invest in the technology and attract independent talent wishing to take advantage of this impactful marketing discipline.”