Advertising built on tracking people is running out of steam

For most of the past two decades, digital advertising has worked by following people: cookies, device identifiers, and browsing history let advertisers target individuals wherever they went online. That model has been unwinding for years, as browsers phase out third-party cookies, regulators tighten privacy rules across Europe and beyond, and consumers grow warier of being tracked. Brands and publishers are left needing a way to reach the right audience, and to do it with the same performance advertisers had come to expect from tracking-based targeting, without relying on tracking at all.

Reading the content itself, not the person looking at it

Seedtag's business is built on a different signal: the content a person is looking at, rather than the person. Its contextual AI, now branded Liz, analyzes editorial content, including images, not just keywords and categories, to understand what a page is actually about and to place advertising into the right context on a cookie-free basis. That lets brands associate themselves with relevant content and publishers rather than chasing an individual across the web, which means the model keeps working as cookies disappear rather than needing to be rebuilt around them. Over time, Seedtag has extended that core contextual engine into a broader set of tools, including generative AI capabilities layered on top of its neuro-contextual targeting, and has grown through acquisitions such as German contextual specialist Recognified, Italian competitor AtomikAd, and French adtech company KMTX.

From a two-person idea in Madrid to a global advertising company

Seedtag was founded in Madrid in 2014, built around the idea that editorial images could become a distinct advertising asset in their own right. It is the leader in contextual advertising across Europe, the US and Latin America, with an international footprint spanning offices across multiple continents. Its expansion into the US, anchored by a New York headquarters, enabled the company to become a truly global contender for the category leadership.

Two founders out of Google, and a chief executive brought in to scale

It was built by Albert Nieto Riera and Jorge Poyatos, who left roles at Google to start it together. Brian Gleason, who has scaled advertising technology businesses including at Criteo and GroupM, is Chief Executive Officer, appointed in mid-2025. Jorge Poyatos is Chief Innovation Officer, focused on the next generation of Seedtag's neuro-contextual AI, and Albert Nieto is Strategic Advisor. Both founders sit on Seedtag's board.

When we invested, and what has followed

We first backed Seedtag in 2016, leading the investor syndicate in its early rounds, and have continued to back the company through its growth since. In 2021, Seedtag raised a $40 million Series B led by Oakley Capital, alongside existing investor All Iron Ventures, to cement its position as a global leader in contextual advertising. The following year, Seedtag raised over €250 million in funding from private equity investor Advent International, funding that supported further scaling of its contextual AI technology and its US expansion, including co-founder Albert Nieto's move to establish the company's New York headquarters. We have partnered with Seedtag from a very early stage and have watched the team build a durable, privacy-first advertising business precisely as the rest of the industry has had to reckon with the end of tracking-based targeting.