Paris-based app retargeting platform Adikteev – think Criteo for apps – snagged $12 million in Series B on Tuesday.
The company plans to spend it on research and development and on expanding its 100-person headcount with around 40 new engineer hires over the next month.
The round, which brings Adikteev’s total funding to $14.2 million since it was founded in 2012, was led by Ring Capital and BNP Developpement, with pinch-hitting from ISAI, Ventech and tech investor Laurent Asscher.
Excluding casual gaming, most of the advertisers on Adikteev’s roster, which includes Amazon-owned ShopBop, eBay and Yelp, see app retention rates between 35% and 60% on Day One. After a week, that range usually falls to 10-30%.
Adikteev’s technology, which includes a mobile demand-side platform (DSP), data management platform (DMP) and rich media ad creator, helps apps revive lapsed users, boost engagement and increase retention.
“Say someone has a food delivery app installed, and they order food once a week,” said Alexei Chemenda, CRO for apps and US managing director at Adikteev. “Our goal is simply to make that happen more often.”
It does so by partnering with app attribution and tracking companies, such as AppsFlyer, Tune and Adjust, or directly with an advertiser’s DMP to access audience data.
Adikteev then segments users into smaller cohorts and its algorithm optimizes messaging and rich media creative – usually interactive playable units – for each group on the fly.
“Often we have thousands of different creatives in a campaign as we’re testing to find the optimal version for a specific audience,” Chemenda said. “The idea is to personalize. If it’s been two weeks since someone ordered a Moroccan tagine from that food delivery I mentioned, and they gave it five stars and then didn’t order again for two weeks, it makes sense for us to see if they want to order again.”
But beyond finding users and nudging them to come back, retargeting is about getting them to stay. One of the items on Adikteev’s road map this year is improving predictions of lifetime user value and segmenting cohorts in real time. That’s why Adikteev acquired German mobile DSP Trademob last year.
“We have the creative technology, and they had the retargeting optimization technology,” Chemenda said.
Another big 2018 agenda item is building a tool for real-time incrementality measurement. Today, Adikteev shares weekly reports with its advertisers that show the split between return on ad spend and organic activity – even if that means Adikteev gets less credit for its retargeting efforts.
“In retargeting, the big question is always incrementality: How much revenue are you driving versus what would have happened anyway?” Chemenda said. “It may look like we’re driving a certain amount of revenue for an advertiser when, in fact, it’s less, and we want to be front and center about that. This is about bringing more transparency into our company, but also into the market.”
