Drawbridge (company)

Drawbridge is a people-based identity management company[6] operating out of San Mateo, California, USA. Drawbridge has built a people-based identity graph[7] and cross-device advertising platform that specializes in using machine learning to match individuals across connected devices, including desktops, smartphones, tablets, and connected TVs,[8] in order to serve more relevant ads across devices.

For other uses, see Drawbridge (disambiguation).

Drawbridge, Inc.
Type of businessPrivately held company
Headquarters
San Mateo
,
United States[1]
Area servedGlobal
Founder(s)Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan
Key peopleKamakshi Sivaramakrishnan (CEO)
Devin Guan (CTO)[2]
Dave Zinman (COO)[3]
Matt Gallatin (CFO)[4]
Jodi Garg (CPO)[5]
IndustryMarketing Technology
URLdrawbridge.com
Launched2011

The company received a patent for its "system to group internet devices based upon device usage" in 2016[9] and a patent for "system and method for determining related digital identities" in 2019.[10]

History

Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, a former AdMob scientist, built the technology that allowed her to pair users to devices in late 2010 and formed Adsymptotic, which is now known as Drawbridge.[11] In 2014, the company announced support for video ads[12] and updated its analytics suite to give marketers insights on multi-touch attribution and information on their audiences across devices.[13]

In 2016, the company was ranked #54 on the Deloitte Fast 500 North America list[14] and was listed on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies in America for the second consecutive year.[15]

In 2017, the company was ranked #24 on the CNBC Disruptor 50 list,[16] and named one of Fortune’s "50 Companies Leading the AI Revolution."[17] It was also reported that 32% of technical roles and 43% of leadership roles (director or higher) at Drawbridge were filled by women.[18]

In 2018, Drawbridge sold its media business to Gimbal[19] and was again named a CNBC Disruptor.[20]

Technology

At a high level, Drawbridge probabilistically determines whether two devices are used by the same person by analyzing various events occurring on the devices and the attributes that those events yield.

In other words, Drawbridge observes a user's activities, primarily through the proxy of ads served to various devices (mobile device or desktop web), which gives them an ID. Since IDs are different across all the devices a user may interact with, Drawbridge then computes a confidence-score based on the likelihood that IDs from different sources belong to the same person or identity.[21]

Reception

Most mainstream media outlets have been fairly receptive to Drawbridge's pairing technology.[22][23] Predictably, technology focused media outlets have been borderline laudatory in their coverage[11] while some blogs have voiced concerns that the technology is invasive and could lead to breaches of privacy.[24]

Financials

Drawbridge has received funding from Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Northgate Capital, and Mitsui & Co..[25]

In 2016 the company announced the close of its $25M Series C round of financing, led by Sequoia Capital.[26]

In 2018 the company announced an additional $15M raised from all of its existing VC investors, bringing its total capital raised to $70M.[27]

References
  1. "Contact Us".
  2. "Drawbridge Challenges Scientific Community to Better the Accuracy of Its Cross-Device Consumer Graph", June 18, 2015
  3. "Drawbridge Hires Apple Ad Executive to Track Users Across Devices", [The Wall Street Journal], July 13, 2015
  4. "CFO Moves – week ending September 16, 2016", [CFO Moves], September 19, 2016
  6. "AppNexus Launches Programmable DSP; PubMatic Fraud-free Program". www.exchangewire.com. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  7. "Drawbridge Rolls Out DIY Cross-Device Graphs | AdExchanger". AdExchanger. November 14, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  8. https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/07/drawbridge-connected-tvs/
  9. , Guan, Devin; Xiang Li & Randy Cotta, "System to group internet devices based upon device usage"
  10. Sivaramakrishnan, Kamakshi (April 2, 2019). "Patent 10248968 for "System and Method for Determining Related Digital Identities"". United States Patent & Trademark Office.
  11. Leber, Jessica. "Get Ready for Ads that Follow You from One Device to the Next", [MIT Tech Review], December 5, 2012
  12. Ha, Anthony. "Drawbridge Says It Now Supports Video In Its Cross-Device Ad Targeting", [Techcrunch Review], April 3, 2014
  13. Loechner, Tyler "Drawbridge To Update Analytics, Shines Light On Multi-Touch Attribution", [RTBlog], September 3, 2014
  14. "2016 Winners by rank" (PDF). Deloitte. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  15. "Drawbridge: Number 199 on the 2016 Inc. 5000". Inc.com. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  16. staff, CNBC.com (May 16, 2017). "2017 Disruptor 50: No. 24 Drawbridge". CNBC. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  17. "Here are 50 Companies Leading the AI Revolution". Fortune. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  18. CNBC.com, David Hochman, special to (May 18, 2017). "This little-known start-up is disrupting Facebook, Google and Amazon". CNBC. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  19. Tuesday, Allison Schiff //; May 8th; Pm, 2018-2:20 (May 8, 2018). "Drawbridge Sells Its Media Arm And Exits Ad Tech". AdExchanger. Retrieved April 23, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. staff, CNBC com (May 22, 2018). "Meet the 2018 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  21. Sivaramakrishnan, Kamakshi. , [Drawbridge White Paper]
  22. "Tracking adverts set to jump across gadgets", [BBC], December 7, 2012
  23. Dredge, Stuart. "Drawbridge aims to solve 'cross-device' ad targeting problems", [The Guardian], May 11, 2012
  24. "As Drawbridge rises, should the regulatory portcullis be lowered ?" Archived February 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, [TelecomTV] December 10, 2012
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