Kevel Secures $52M, Its Largest Raise To Date

Kevel, the Durham, North Carolina-based ad-tech infrastructure company, raised $52 million in new capital — the largest round in its history — pushing total funding past $100 million.

By the Numbers

$52M
Kevel new capital
$100M+
Total funding to date
100+
Commerce media customers
Adzerk
Previously named
Iberis Capital
Trace Cohen
By Trace Cohen · Value Add Pulse Funding Desk
Founder & Editor-in-chief, Value Add VC
1 min read
Kevel Secures $52M, Its Largest Raise To Date: key figures
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THE RUNDOWN

1

Kevel's total funding passing $100 million after years of operating signals ad-tech infrastructure, not just retail media networks themselves, is attracting growth capital.

2

Backing from dunnhumby Ventures, the venture arm of the retail data firm behind Tesco's Clubcard analytics, signals strategic interest from retailers building their own media networks rather than renting Amazon's or Walmart's.

3

The round funds AI-driven ad decisioning, a feature set competing directly with how Criteo and Moloco pitch retailers on automated bidding.

4

Kevel's shift toward owned ad infrastructure mirrors how Shopify positioned itself against Amazon for merchants a decade earlier.

The VC Read

Value Add VC analysis

The tell in this round isn't the $52M, it's who's writing the check: dunnhumby and ORIX USA are strategic and growth investors, not venture funds chasing a markup. That mix suggests Kevel is being underwritten as a profitable infrastructure business rather than a growth-at-all-costs ad-tech play — worth confirming by asking directly about the profitability timeline the CEO cited to AdExchanger before assuming this is a clean growth round.

Analysis

Kevel, a Durham, North Carolina-based ad-tech infrastructure company, announced $52 million in new capital on Wednesday — the largest capital raise in its history, according to a company blog post.

The round included an expanded strategic investment from Fulcrum Equity Partners, along with dunnhumby Ventures, Iberis Capital and ORIX Corporation USA's growth capital arm. Kevel's total capital raised now exceeds $100 million.

Kevel, formerly named Adzerk, provides API-first infrastructure that lets retailers, marketplaces and commerce platforms build and run their own ad-serving media networks rather than renting space inside Amazon's or Walmart's. Its customer list includes Tesco, Dollar General Media Networks, John Lewis Partnership, PayPal, Scandinavian Airlines, Home Depot's Orange Apron Media and Nubank, serving more than 100 commerce media networks.

“## Why is a Tesco-linked fund backing an ad-tech infrastructure startup?”

Why is a Tesco-linked fund backing an ad-tech infrastructure startup?

dunnhumby Ventures is the venture arm of dunnhumby, the retail data and analytics firm best known for building Tesco's Clubcard loyalty program. Its participation signals that large retailers see owning ad infrastructure, rather than renting it from the dominant platforms, as a priority worth funding directly.

Kevel competes for retail media budgets against Criteo, CitrusAd and Moloco, each of which offers some version of automated ad decisioning for retailers. Unlike those rivals, Kevel's pitch is infrastructure ownership: retailers run the ad server on their own stack rather than outsourcing decisioning entirely to a third party.

CEO James Avery told AdExchanger that part of the new capital is earmarked for acquisitions and that Kevel expects to be profitable by the end of 2026 — a claim that has not yet been independently verified and is worth revisiting once the company reports full-year results.

The raise comes as retail media is projected to keep taking share from traditional digital advertising budgets, with Kevel betting that mid-sized retailers priced out of building their own ad stack from scratch will pay for infrastructure instead of walled-garden placements.

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Key Sources

1 source
SourceKevel
AnalysisValue Add Pulse

Reported by Kevel · Analysis by Value Add Pulse.

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