Spongecell, Inc.
Headquartered in New York, NY with sales offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and London, Spongecell is an advertising technology company that turns standard banner ads into dynamic ads with rich media features, increasing engagement rates by 25 to 50 percent versus static banner ads. Spongecell’s interactive features, like video, social media, interactive maps, carousels, and downloadable/SMS coupons, are easily integrated without disrupting the creative workflow. In addition, Spongecell allows companies to collect data and analytics that provide a detailed portrait of audiences that cannot be produced in other advertising platforms. www.spongecell.com
Why Spongecell? — Engagement around static banner ads has been in steady decline in recent years. Because of this, advertisers and publishers alike are looking for ways to increase engagement and ultimately drive results for their campaigns. With this in mind, Safeguard Scienticics surveyed the market landscape and discovered that Spongecell was already driving amazing results through its leading-edge platform, and had put together a solid roster of clients such as HP, Dell, Proctor & Gamble, Volvo, Dodge, Comcast, Kraft, IBM. In addition, Spongecell is led by an experienced team that cares about its clients and delivering superior results.
Market Opportunity — The display advertising market—the segment in which Spongecell primarily competes today—is expected to grow to $27.6 billion in 2016, a CAGR of 20% from 2011. While overall ad budgets are shrinking, allocations of those budgets are being shifted from offline to online as agencies focus on media that is more efficient, targeted, measurable and proven to demonstrate ROI.
Safeguard Board Member — Erik B. Rasmussen
Financial Summary — Safeguard has deployed $10 million of capital in Spongecell and has a 23% primary ownership position.
Initial Capital Deployment — January 2012
Sector — Technology, Internet/New Media
