MOLOCO raises $150M Series C at a $1.5 bn valuation

California-based AI-powered mobile ad solutions company MOLOCO announced that it has raised $150 million in Series C funding round, led by Tiger Global Management, at a valuation of $1.5 billion.

The news comes three months after the company raised $20 million in another Series C round and gained the ‘unicorn’ status. The company has raised over $200 million so far and says it has ‘consistently grown in excess of 100 percent annually and has surpassed an annual net revenue run-rate of more than $100 million.’ 

MOLOCO was founded in 2013 by Ikkjin Ahn who previously worked as a software engineer at YouTube and Google making a significant contribution to the development of the company’s data and machine learning infrastructure. His company now offers machine learning and growth solutions for mobile apps and e-commerce brands. 

The company’s demand-side platform MOLOCO Cloud allows advertisers to programmatically buy ad inventory across mobile apps and it’s also preparing to launch its Retail Media Platform which is currently in beta and will enable e-commerce companies to create new revenue streams including sponsored ads. 

In an email to Mobile Marketing Reads, MOLOCO said it’s currently serving over 13 billion ad impressions every month to almost 10 billion devices worldwide through 5.58 million mobile apps from developers such as  King Digital, Playrix, Netmarble and more. 

“Until now, only the world’s largest technology companies have benefited from the power of exceptional machine learning,” said Ikkjin Ahn, co-founder and CEO of MOLOCO. “Our goal is to make machine learning models accessible to more businesses so that they can leverage their first-party customer data for better user acquisition, customer engagement, monetization and growth. As consumer privacy restrictions evolve and become more stringent, it is increasingly critical for businesses to activate their own customer data in order to inform and optimize business decisions.” 

MOLOCO currently has more than 200 employees in eight offices located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, Beijing, London, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. 

The company plans to use the funding money to accelerate its business, expand into new markets and grow its team.