Bidstalk
White label mobile advertising platform, upon which ad agencies, advertisers, publishers and ad exchanges can build their mobile advertising business with absolutely zero investment on technology, to trade mobile ad inventory at scale.
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Bidstalk operated as a technology provider in the mobile advertising sector, offering a white-label demand-side platform (DSP). The company was founded in November 2013 by Vaibhav Gupta, Guna Kakulapati, Rishi Agarwal, and Vipul Jain. Gupta, the CEO, previously founded GoLive Media and worked at AOL, while Kakulapati had a decade of experience in advertising at Google with several patents to his name. The firm was established with dual headquarters in Singapore and Bengaluru, India.
The company’s core business was providing a plug-and-play, self-serve platform that enabled ad agencies, advertisers, and publishers to create their own mobile advertising businesses by programmatically buying mobile ad inventory. This was achieved through real-time bidding (RTB) technology, allowing clients to bid on ad impressions across numerous ad exchanges. Bidstalk's business model centered on offering this customizable DSP, which other companies could rebrand and present as their own. Initially, the company found that advertisers were hesitant to adopt the technology, leading Bidstalk to offer trial periods to demonstrate its value, which successfully accelerated client acquisition.
After launching at the Mobile World Congress in February 2014, the company quickly gained traction. It secured a $500K seed funding round in December 2013 and later participated in the Blackbox Connect accelerator program in Silicon Valley. By May 2015, Bidstalk had grown to a team of around 40-50 employees. This growth culminated in its acquisition by AppLift, a German app marketing platform, on May 28, 2015. AppLift, which was already a client, acquired Bidstalk to integrate its RTB technology into its own DataLift platform, enhancing its performance-based app marketing services. The deal was structured as a stock swap, with the entire Bidstalk team joining AppLift, though the Bidstalk brand and product were set to continue.
Keywords: mobile advertising, demand-side platform, real-time bidding, adtech, white-label, programmatic advertising, user acquisition, ad exchange, app marketing, self-serve platform