Quaestus Capital Management leads investment into purpose-powered global advertising platform that converts people’s attention to online ads into charitable donations

Good-Loop – a global ad tech company that converts people’s attention to ads into donations to good causes – announced today it has closed a Series A round of $6.1M (£4.5M).

The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s product roadmap, including the development of new solutions aimed at reducing digital advertising’s substantial carbon footprint. The company also plans to expand its international teams, including opening new offices in New York and Chicago to serve its growing US markets that currently comprise 33% of total revenue.

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The round was led by New York-based investment fund, Quaestus Capital Management (QCM), with additional backing from Scottish Enterprise, impact investor SIS Ventures, European ad tech fund First Party Capital and investment raised on the crowdfunding platform Seedrs – bringing total investment into the ad tech for good platform to $8.2M (£6m) since it was formed in 2016.

Good-Loop, a B Corporation that runs campaigns in over 18 markets around the world, is on a mission to make the connection between brands and consumers more meaningful by delivering respectful ads that have real social impact – while also driving significant business and brand uplift for advertisers.

The company’s unique ad formats motivate people to watch an entire ad online by allowing them to ‘unlock’ a free charitable donation at the end of each spot. This strategy allows advertisers to receive more meaningful brand engagement, while appealing to consumers’ goodwill by providing a cost-free means of philanthropy. This results in an average ad recall 4.5X higher than the industry standard. Designated charities receive 50% of ad revenue. Current clients include Unilever, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Levi’s, adidas, NBC Universal and Nike.

Good-Loop CEO Amy Williams, who founded the company alongside CTO Daniel Winterstein, said: “At the heart of our industry is an inherent value exchange between advertiser and consumer, and I’m on a mission to harness that value as a significant force for good. Through our respectful, positive ad platform, brands can treat people online as partners – rather than targets – united by a desire to have a meaningful social impact. Backing from industry experts like QCM and FirstPartyCapital, social impact investors and, indeed, the general public, will help to supercharge our growth whilst keeping us true to our values at every step along the way.”

Austin Davis, CEO at QCM said: “Good-Loop elevates advertising and conscious-minded business to an entirely new level and will become the industry Fairtrade Stamp. The business model solves many longstanding issues in the sector and is the paradigm shift that has been needed to regain consumer trust in transparent and ethical advertising that not only provides superior results to advertisers, but does it while making great contributions to the world through philanthropic giving. It is a win-win for all parties. Ultimately, Good-Loop proves doing good is truly good for business – it is not a trade-off. I’m genuinely honored to have led their Series A, and to be working with such an exceptional company and team.”

Good-Loop, which has offices in London and Edinburgh, has also launched a suite of solutions to help advertisers measure and offset the carbon cost of their digital ad campaigns, including its Carbon-Calculator and Green Ad Tag – a 1×1 tracking pixel that enables brands and agencies to track and offset the carbon cost of their digital advertising in real time.

Demand for Good-Loop’s ad programmatic solutions has grown 180% in the last 12 months, while its purpose-powered ad formats have also now raised more than $5M for charities around the world, including Save The Children, WaterAid, Feeding America and the WWF.

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Supporting quotes

Rich Ashton, Managing Partner, FirstPartyCapital said: “We’re proud to be supporting Good-Loop, which is promoting brand responsibility and driving more transparent processes in the digital advertising industry, all while addressing the massive carbon footprint the sector is accountable for. We believe that Amy and the team will ultimately play a critical part in providing the media execution infrastructure for a cleaner, greener and more trustworthy adtech ecosystem, a vital step in ensuring our sector plays a valuable role in the movement against climate change.”

Kerry Sharp, Director of Growth Investments at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Scottish Enterprise is delighted to continue to support Good-Loop’s growth in Edinburgh with this most recent funding round that aids its US expansion, development of its advertising for good technology platform whilst also lowering carbon emissions across the digital advertising industry. It is fantastic to see a Scottish company innovating in the ethical marketing space on a global stage that will in turn also help other businesses to improve ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) credentials and also provide a valuable boost to many charities as Good-Loop grows too.

“This investment aligns with Scottish Enterprise’s net zero framework and digital scale-up national programme that is focussed on growing Scotland’s digital tech scale-ups and highlights the talent in Scotland’s digital economy as Good-Loop aims to disrupt advertising to create a virtuous business model and more inclusive economy.”

Rob Halliday, Senior Investment Manager, SIS Ventures, said: “As one of Good-Loop’s early investors, SIS Ventures has always believed in the company’s potential to deliver significant social impact through its disruptive advertising technology. Since starting up, progress has been impressive and Good-Loop is now remarkably well positioned for global growth and impact creation. It has been a real privilege sharing the journey with a first-class team and we’re excited to be part of the next chapter.”

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