Appscotch

AppScotch operated as a mobile advertising intelligence firm, providing transparency in the mobile in-app advertising space for marketers and developers. Founded in 2013 by Andrey Kazakov and Max Gannutin, the company established its headquarters in San Francisco, with a research and development office in Russia. Kazakov's experience in the adtech space began with AppScotch, which initially focused on developing technology for playable ads before pivoting to competitive intelligence.

The firm's core business was centered on a product suite that allowed clients to analyze the mobile ad landscape. It provided market intelligence on which developers were spending the most on user acquisition, which ad networks were being utilized, and tracked the performance of specific ad creatives. This service catered to mobile marketers by offering insights to benchmark their strategies against competitors. One of its key features was a "Try-before-install" app marketing platform, which used app virtualization to deliver an interactive experience of an app directly within a banner ad. This low-latency stream was platform and OS-independent, aiming to create new user acquisition models.

AppScotch's business model was based on providing this data and analytics platform to its clients, which included companies like GameInsight and MiniClip. The company secured $1.5 million in funding from investors including Almaz Capital, IMI.VC, and Impulse VC, which fueled its product development and market entry. A significant milestone in the company's history was its acquisition by App Annie (now Data.AI) on March 14, 2016. The deal was a strategic move for App Annie to integrate AppScotch's advertising-focused analytics into its own Marketing Intelligence product, enhancing its ability to track ad creatives and channel usage. Following the acquisition, the founders launched a new venture in the same space called Acquired.io.

Keywords: mobile advertising intelligence, ad analytics, in-app advertising, competitive intelligence, app marketing, user acquisition, ad creative tracking, ad network analysis, App Annie, Andrey Kazakov, Max Gannutin, Data.AI, playable ads, mobile marketing data, ad spend transparency, try-before-install, app virtualization, mobile analytics