London based ad tech platform plans US expansion via seven-figure funding round

Picnic, a user-first media platform which exists to create a more user-friendly ad-funded web, today announced it has closed a £1m funding round.

Picnic will leverage the funds to accelerate development of solutions aimed at delivering outcomes for brands, whilst rewarding user-first and sustainable behaviours. The company also plans to use the funds to continue growth of the New York office and expansion into the US market.

The round was led by FirstPartyCapital (FPC), an early-stage venture capital firm specialising in adtech, martech, and digital media. FPC is joined by Gurman Hundal, Global Executive Chairman and co-Founder at MiQ, Brian O’Kelley, co-founder and CEO of Scope3, and US-based AperiamVentures in the strategic investment.

Over the past four years, Picnic has delivered over 600 campaigns across various verticals, helping brands such as EE, L’Oreal and Amazon to reach highly receptive audiences across the open web. Picnic’s user-first approach has led to award-winning campaigns with significant brand uplift for advertisers.

Sustainability is also integrated within the core of Picnic’s product, filtering their marketplace for low-carbon emitting domains. Picnic also carbon compensates 100 per cent of delivery as standard. Backing from industry experts, including Scope3’s Brian O’Kelley, will help Picnic to accelerate growth whilst staying true to their values.

Matthew Goldhill, founder and CEO of Picnic, commented: “We spent our first few years bootstrapping and I’m incredibly proud of that achievement. The goal with this latest round of investment is to accelerate growth, establishing ourselves in the US market to bring our user-first platform to a wider, global audience.

“Having FPC, AperiamVentures, Gurman Hundal, and Brian O’Kelley as part of that journey will allow us to deliver a better ad experience for both consumers and brands. And being able to do so with our continued focus on sustainability means we will strive to be a positive force on the industry.”

Gurman Hundal, global executive chairman and co-founder of MiQ, added: “As someone who knows how tough it can be bootstrapping a tech startup, Picnic’s traction over the last few years is impressive.

“I’m excited to share my learnings in this space as they look to accelerate their growth and deliver the highest quality ad experiences to users and brands alike.”

Brian O’Kelley, CEO and co-founder of Scope3, said: “I believe that a better internet needs better advertising, and I’m excited to support Picnic’s innovation around improving the user experience of mobile advertising. Sustainability is fundamentally about making each ad experience count, and that’s built into the way Picnic does business.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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