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§ Public · New York City, NY, USA
Outbrain is a technology company.
Outbrain has raised $389.0M across 9 funding rounds.
Key people at Outbrain.
Outbrain has raised $389.0M in total across 9 funding rounds.
Outbrain, operating as Outbrain Direct Response under Teads, provides a performance marketing platform optimizing advertiser ROI across the open internet. The company utilizes contextual insights, advanced targeting, and predictive AI technology to connect brands with engaged audiences. Its core offering enhances reach and drives measurable campaign outcomes through sophisticated ad delivery.
Founded in 2006 by Yaron Galai and Oren Kaniel, Outbrain stemmed from the insight that publishers needed to recommend engaging content and advertisers required effective audience reach. Galai, as Co-CEO, and Kaniel, as CTO, developed foundational technology pioneering performance marketing strategies across the open internet.
Outbrain serves advertisers and media owners with tools for campaign optimization and monetization. Its vision, aligned with Teads, focuses on leading performance marketing's future by continuously providing innovative, data-driven solutions yielding superior client results. The company empowers businesses to achieve marketing objectives in the complex digital advertising landscape.
Key people at Outbrain.
Outbrain is a global technology company that builds a content discovery and recommendation platform powered by AI-driven Smartfeed technology, enabling personalized content feeds and native advertising across the open web. It serves publishers (like BBC and MSN) by optimizing revenue through monetization tools and advertisers by delivering targeted, high-engagement ads to over 1 billion users in 55 countries, solving the challenge of replicating engaging "page-turning" experiences online while boosting ROI via performance marketing, programmatic solutions, and contextual video ads[1][3][4]. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York, Outbrain went public on Nasdaq in 2021 with $959.3 million in 2023 revenue, but has since merged with Teads, operating as Outbrain Direct Response (a Teads subsidiary) focused on direct response advertising and global scale[1][3][5][6].
Outbrain was founded in 2006 in Israel by Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav, both former Israeli Navy officers with prior entrepreneurial experience in businesses acquired by AOL and eBay[3][4]. The idea emerged from addressing publishers' struggles to recreate the serendipitous discovery of print media—turning the page to find the next engaging story—on the web, coinciding with explosive growth in news and social traffic[3][4]. Early traction came from developing proprietary recommendation tech, leading to partnerships with major media like BBC and MSN; the company expanded to 18 global offices, went public in 2021, and later merged with Teads to enhance its direct response capabilities[1][3][4].
Outbrain rides the open web resurgence amid privacy regulations curbing walled gardens like social platforms, capitalizing on demand for contextual, cookieless native advertising in a $959M+ market[1][2]. Timing aligns with AI advancements in personalization and the shift to performance-driven marketing, where native ads outperform display by blending into user feeds on trusted publishers[1][4]. Market forces like ad fraud, latency demands, and journalism sustainability favor its fraud-proof, high-speed platform, influencing the ecosystem by sustaining publisher revenues (e.g., via 1B+ user reach) and enabling brands to engage "third of the world's open web consumers" without disrupting UX[1][2][4].
Post-Teads merger, Outbrain Direct Response will hyper-focus on bid automation, ROI-maximizing direct response, and global expansion (8 offices, 17 languages), leveraging legacy tech for elevated branding-to-performance outcomes[5][6]. Trends like AI engagement prediction, privacy-first targeting, and open internet growth will propel it, potentially evolving influence through deeper programmatic integration and interactive ads amid cookieless futures. As a pioneer turning web discovery into revenue, Outbrain exemplifies how content tech sustains the open web's vitality[3][5].
Outbrain has raised $389.0M across 9 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $200.0M Debt in July 2021.
Outbrain has raised $389.0M in total across 9 funding rounds.
Outbrain's investors include Seth Klarman, Yaron Galai, Ian Lane, Gemini Israel Ventures, GlenRock, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rhodium, Vintage Partners, Viola Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, Draper Associates.