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Liftoff is a technology company.
Liftoff provides a mobile growth acceleration platform, delivering performance marketing, monetization, and creative optimization solutions. Its proprietary AI-enabled Cortex™ engine powers products like Accelerate for user acquisition, Monetize for revenue maximization, and Creative for ad innovation. This technological approach enables precise, scalable strategies within the mobile advertising ecosystem.
Founded in 2012 by Mark Ellis, Phil Crosby, and Harry Robertson, Liftoff addressed the demands of the nascent mobile app economy. Their insight recognized the critical need for advanced tools to acquire and retain users, and to monetize applications post-App Store. They built an intelligent, machine learning-driven platform for these evolving industry challenges.
Liftoff serves mobile marketers, advertising agencies, demand-side platforms, publishers, and mobile game developers. The company's vision is to empower these businesses to achieve sustainable growth and maximize economic potential in the dynamic digital landscape. Liftoff continually innovates, providing partners tools for navigating user engagement and revenue generation complexities.
Liftoff has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round.
Liftoff has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Liftoff has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Liftoff's investors include Baseline Ventures, Acrew Capital, Almaz Capital, Caffeinated Capital, Catapult Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Matt Ocko, Founder Collective, Harrison Metal, Lobby Capital, Matrix, Mucker Capital.
Liftoff is a leading AI-powered performance marketing platform for the mobile app economy, helping app marketers acquire and retain high-value users while enabling publishers to maximize revenue.[1][2][3] Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, it supports over 6,600 mobile businesses across 74 countries in sectors like gaming, social, finance, ecommerce, and entertainment, with solutions including Accelerate (user acquisition), Direct, Monetize (revenue maximization), Intelligence, Vungle Exchange (programmatic reach), and Creative (AI-driven ad building).[1][3] The company generates approximately $156.7 million in revenue, employs around 645 people, and has raised $5 million across two funding rounds, powering its end-to-end tech stack with tools like Cortex, a next-gen machine learning platform launched in 2024 for superior ad campaign performance.[1][2]
Liftoff serves mobile app developers, advertisers, publishers, game studios, and demand-side platforms (DSPs) by solving key challenges in user acquisition, retention, monetization, and creative optimization in a competitive app market.[3] Its growth momentum is evident in global expansion, product innovations like Cortex (using advanced neural networks on large datasets for better ROI), and a tech stack featuring AWS, TensorFlow, Golang, Python, and Spark, positioning it as a rocket ship in mobile growth.[1][2][3]
Liftoff was founded in 2012 in Redwood City, California (with some sources noting early Palo Alto ties), emerging as a full-service mobile app marketing and retargeting platform focused on user acquisition and retention campaigns.[1][2] Specific founders are not detailed in available sources, but the company quickly built an end-to-end technology stack to address the mobile app economy's needs, starting with performance marketing solutions.[1] Early traction came from serving diverse sectors like gaming and ecommerce, evolving into a global player with offices in three locations and support for 6,600+ businesses by leveraging AI innovations, such as the 2024 launch of Cortex, its machine-learning platform for tailored neural network models that enhance ad campaigns.[1][2][3] This progression from core marketing tools to comprehensive monetization and intelligence offerings marks its pivotal growth, fueled by $5 million in funding.[2]
(Note: A separate "Liftoff" accelerator by Ground Up Ventures and Microsoft exists for early-stage founders in climate, ag/food, construction, defense, and space, but lacks direct ties to this mobile tech company.[4])
Liftoff rides the explosive growth of the mobile app economy, where AI-driven performance marketing is essential amid rising user acquisition costs and privacy shifts (e.g., post-IDFA era).[1][2][3] Its timing aligns perfectly with AI advancements like neural networks in Cortex, launched in 2024, which process larger datasets for real-time optimization—capitalizing on market forces like programmatic advertising's dominance and the need for first-party data in gaming/ecommerce.[2][3] By empowering 6,600+ apps globally, Liftoff influences the ecosystem through better monetization (e.g., Vungle Exchange's reach) and intelligence tools that help developers build competitive games, fostering innovation in high-value sectors and reducing barriers for mobile businesses scaling revenue.[1][3]
Liftoff is primed to dominate AI-fueled mobile growth, with Cortex enabling even smarter personalization and expansion into emerging app verticals like fintech and social. Trends like generative AI for creatives, edge computing for real-time bidding, and Web3 gaming integrations will shape its trajectory, potentially boosting its $156M revenue through deeper publisher partnerships. As mobile ad spend surges, Liftoff's influence will grow, propelling more apps into the stratosphere—truly living up to its rocket ship ethos.[1][2][3]
Liftoff has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $5.0M Series A in February 2015.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2015 | $5.0M Series A | Baseline Ventures | Acrew Capital, Almaz Capital, Caffeinated Capital, Catapult Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Matt Ocko, Founder Collective, Harrison Metal, Lobby Capital, Matrix, Mucker Capital, Nokia Growth Partners, Uncork Capital, Jay Jamison, Rashaun Williams, Tim Ferriss, Tyler Willis, Ilya Sukhar, Shinya Akamine, Tim Koogle, Shinya Akamine, Frederick Warren |