Vertoz Advertising, an online programmatic advertising company, plans to raise ₹20 crore through an initial public offering. It has received approval for listing from NSE Emerge, the SME stock exchange.
Programmatic advertising is an automated process of digital media buying. It helps brands and agencies target consumers at the right time and place with the appropriate message.
The online platform of Vertoz matches the price of advertisers with that of advertising platform through a complex algorithm for programmatic buying and selling across different media channels like desktop, mobile web and mobile app. The company registered a turnover of ₹20 crore last financial year with a profit margin of 30 per cent. The promoters will dilute about 25 per cent of their stake.
Vertoz, which recently ventured into the US market, plans to utilise the proceeds of the IPO to expand its footprint in Europe, West Asia and South-East Asia. In India, it is working with leading brands and media publishers. It offers dedicated account management to each of its clients irrespective of their business size.
Ashish Shah, founder & CEO, Vertoz, said the company plans to focus on scaling up by sourcing more demand and supply partners, onboarding new advertisers and publishers. “We are working to bring in new interactive ad formats time-to-time for display, video, mobile and native advertising for advertisers to connect better with their audiences,” he added.
Google Search was one of the first companies to bring programmatic buying technology into India. It uses Ad Words to target consumers. For instance, if somebody is googling jogging shoes, ads from sports companies such as Puma or Nike appear along with the search results.
In India, programmatic buying is just evolving and Vertoz is trying to replicate it in the ad industry. Currently, 20-30 per cent of the display and video advertising budgets is allocated to programmatic, while in developed countries such as the US, the UK and Australia, it stands between 40 and 60 per cent.