There’s been a growing movement towards a cookie-less environment in digital advertising and the general trends towards restricting the use of consumer data are leaving digital marketers, brands, and publishers to re-evaluate their approaches in a privacy-driven environment. In this upheaval, first-party data and first-party relationships are moving to the forefront to shape the future of advertising, and consequently, publishing. Privacy-first, first-party data that is willingly shared by customers over time offers a distinct competitive advantage. OpenWeb is an online conversation platform that allows publishers to host social experiences without being reliant on social networks while building value first-party relationships with their audiences. Founded in 2012 as Spot.IM, OpenWeb works with 1000+ publishers, like News Corp., Hearst, and Yahoo, that represent 100M+ active monthly users in aggregate.
AlleyWatch caught up with OpenWeb CEO and Cofounder Nadav Shoval to learn more about the company’s vision for the future of the web, expansion plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $233M, and much, much more.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
OpenWeb has raised a $150M Series E round, led by Insight Partners and Georgian, along with strategic investments from The New York Times, Dentsu, Samsung Next, Entree Capital, Omer Cygler, and Professor Scott Galloway. Following the round, we’re now a unicorn — with a valuation of over $1B.
Tell us about the product or service that OpenWeb offers.
OpenWeb’s mission is to improve online conversations — and empower publishers & brands to host their own, healthy communities and thrive independently. As a product company, our technology helps our partners keep conversations high-quality and build strong, direct first-party relationships with their audiences by hosting robust social experiences at scale. We work with over 1,000 top-tier publishers, hosting more than 100 million active users each month.
What inspired the start of OpenWeb?
From the beginning, my cofounder and I had a clear intent: we wanted to find ways to provide safer, healthier social experiences for users. Specifically, we knew that we needed to improve the state of online conversation. It was clear that the web needed a scalable alternative to the existing social media platforms – one that prioritizes quality and safety, and empowers publishers and brands to host their communities outside the walled gardens of social media.
How is OpenWeb different?
We aim to create a democratized alternative to social media that prioritizes healthy experiences — empowering publishers, brands, users, and advertisers alike. Our goal is to truly align with the stakeholders of the open internet and create a positive and beneficial environment for everyone.
What market does OpenWeb target and how big is it?
Our customers are publishers, brands, nonprofits, and service providers across the globe. We’re ultimately talking about the entire open internet outside the walled gardens, so it’s a very large market filled with opportunity and growth. We’re excited to be partnering with some of the best-known and most respected brand names in the world as we continue to scale.
Who are your customers?
Today, OpenWeb works with more than 1,000 partners including Yahoo, Hearst, News Corp, HuffPost, Refinery29, and others.
What’s your business model?
We have a hybrid business model, fueled by both software agreements and content monetization through brand-safe advertising. Where monetization is involved, we share the revenues with our partners.
What are your post-COVID office plans?
We’re closing on a great new NYC office. We’ll be upgrading our Tel Aviv office as well due to our growth, and are looking to expand our global presence with new offices in Canada, the UK, the Asia-Pacific China (APAC) region, and the Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) region.
What was the funding process like?
The process was incredibly exciting — this Series E marks a big step forward in our mission to improve online conversations and empower the open internet. The future of a sustainable web depends on the ability to facilitate healthy experiences while empowering content creators to build direct relationships with their audiences. We raised this round of investment to double down on this vision, and to bring those healthier experiences to new verticals and new markets.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Raising capital is hard work no matter what size your business is, but our investors and our team deeply believe in the work we’re doing. We are so thrilled for their continued support that helped us reach this >$1B valuation and further our efforts to achieve our mission.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Fundamentally, all our investors share a passion for our mission to both improve online conversation and create a more empowered open internet.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We will continue to invest in our products and scale our operations, partnering with a greater number of publishers and brands to create safe and engaging online experiences around their content.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Truly own your mission. Think hard about your reason for being and exactly how your business will make an impact on your community and your industry. Once you have that, focus your efforts and investments on that. Keep driving towards it, through the expected ups and downs — and the results will come.
Truly own your mission. Think hard about your reason for being and exactly how your business will make an impact on your community and your industry. Once you have that, focus your efforts and investments on that. Keep driving towards it, through the expected ups and downs — and the results will come.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We plan to expand our presence with new global offices, and we’re exploring strategic acquisitions to enhance our product offering.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC?
I am not much of an eating out type of person, I prefer a home-cooked meal with friends and family.
