Celtra raises $15m investment thanks to Unilever and WPP
Mobile advertiser Celtra has closed a $15m funding round, with WPP joining Unilever in taking a minority stake in the firm, according to an official statement. The American company is a leader in the mobile advertising sector, offering its AdCreator platform to brands and agencies, many of whom are included in the Fortune Global 500 list. The funding will be used to expand its current clientele.

Mobile advertising firm Celtra has today (June 21) announced a $15m funding round with WPP confirming its participation in taking a minority stake alongside CPG giant Unilever.

Celtra has previously generated $10.2m in funding up until the latest round / Celtra

US-based Celtra has established itself as one of the foremost companies in the mobile advertising space, having developed a creative management platform for distributing content across multiple screens since it was founded in 2006.

Celtra makes its AdCreator platform available to both brands and agencies, with the technology used to facilitate the creation, production, and distribution of ads across a variety of devices (both desktop and mobile).

The company will use the latest investment round to continue to expand out business with the world’s largest advertisers, according to a source within Celtra, which claims its client roster includes over two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500; among them: Unilever, Kargo, Netflix and Opera Mediaworks.

A statement from the adtech outfit claims that the latest round will see Unilever and Celtra partner to use Celtra’s market-leading creative technology across Unilever’s global marketing organization and its ecosystem of service providers, technology vendors and media suppliers.

Miha Mikek, Celtra chief executive officer, said his company’s aim was to help advertisers achieve maximum results from their digital advertising by ensuring their messaging is fully optimized for the device it is served on.

“Celtra’s platform helps transform brands, agencies, creative producers and other partners into highly performant, data-driven, effective digital storytellers,” he added.

With mobile ad spend forecast to hit $243.7bn globally by 2022, large advertisers are increasingly challenged by the complexity of the digital advertising ecosystem, due to fragmentation of media consumption.

Keith Weed, Unilever chief marketing officer, added: “People deserve advertising that feels native to each medium and delivers emotional value. Celtra helps us deliver that at global scale.”

Celtra’s Crunchbase profile claims it has previously generated $10.2m in funding up until the latest round, with the company noted as a leading participant in the Google-backed Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project.

The investment continues WPP's strategy of focusing on three key areas which it claims differentiates the group's offering from those of its rivals; ie offering clients technology; data; and content production services, and follows on from the investment in Mic announced earlier today.

Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP, chief executive officer, added: “We believe the market is due for a creative management solution that can deliver real-time data driven creative at scale and tailored for every individual, across media channels. Celtra is a leader in this space. This investment is in line with WPP’s commitment to technology, data and content, which, along with horizontality, new markets and new media, comprise the Group’s four strategic priorities.”

It had earlier been reported that adtech outfits were increasingly finding it difficult to come by investment, although representatives of high profile investment funds spoke recently of their willingness to invest in such ventures at Luma Partners' Digital Media Summit.