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Many startups raise capital so they can scale and subsequently reach profitability, but that’s not the case for Denver-based ad tech company Altitude Digital: “We have a culture of profitability,” CMO Joe Grover said.
Altitude Digital has been a profitable business from day one of its 2009 launch by CEO Jeremy Ostermiller and COO Devin Yeager. The founding team reinvested every dollar made while they bootstrapped for two years before picking their VCs (Silicon Valley Bank and Mercado Partners).
Now, the company just announced a $7 million debt round (again from SVB) to allow for hyper-growth. They plan to expand the 60-person team to reach over 100 people by the end of the year and to build up its offices in LA, New York, San Francisco and Salt Lake City.
30,000 publishers and 1,600 clients are currently using Altitude Digital’s marketplace for video and online display advertising. The focus now is on “rapidly expanding the number of publishers on the platform,” Grover said. Two of Altitude Digital's newest products are helping to keep the company profitable and growing: Access Campaign Delivery Platform streamlines managed online media planning and buying while Apex Video Player helps monetize video content.
All this growth is enabled by Altitude Digital’s Colorado location, which keeps the company financially lean, Grover said. Not to mention the flourishing ad tech scene in Colorado makes every company in the space competitive with hiring: “There’s more and more companies on the coast that are seeing us, SpotXchange,Trueffect and Datalogix and the growing talent pool here,” Grover said.
Fellow players in the ad tech space like video advertising platform are attracting international attention, too. Last week SpotXchange, which employs over 150 people, sold a majority stake to European broadcaster RTL Group for $144 million. And just a few months ago Datalogix, which employs 250 people, raised $45 million.
The ad tech talent pool, which is becoming nationally recognized, is just one reason that growth for one Colorado ad tech company means growth for all: “These companies are anchors for talent,” Grover said.
