Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Podcorn Launches Podcast Advertising Platform

Los Angeles-based Podcorn, a venture-backed startup offering up native podcast advertising and matching, has launched its platform, saying that its platform will help advertisers discover and run native ads on podcasts. The startup--led by David Kiezkowski and Agnes Kozera, the former founders of Famebit--said it is looking to help the 85 percent of podcasters who are not monetizing their podcasts, through connecting those podcasters to brand partners. Kiezkowski and Kozera sold Famebit to Google back in 2016. Podcorn recently raised $2.2M, in an August 2019 funding round. According to Podcorn, its algorithm uses machine learning to analyze podcast campaigns, and lets brands create a campaign and indicate certain campaign criteria such as their campaign budget, types of ad creatives, and types of podcasters they would like to work with; the platform also handles payment and escrow of payments, based on project completion. The startup is backed by Global Founders Capital, Bessemer, 500 Startups, Correlation Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, and others.

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