Kevel, the ad tech infrastructure empowering commerce businesses to build media networks they own and grow, has announced $52 million in new capital, marking the largest capital raise in the company's history. The financing includes expanded strategic investments from Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures, Iberis Capital and additional growth capital from ORIX Corporation USA's Growth Capital business.
Kevel has raised $52 million, its largest capital raise to date, bringing total capital raised to more than $100 million.
The financing includes expanded strategic investments from Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures and Iberis Capital, plus growth capital from ORIX USA's Growth Capital business.
Kevel's API-first architecture gives retailers, marketplaces and commerce platforms flexibility to build media businesses around their own customers, data and growth strategies.
Kevel is trusted by more than 100 commerce media networks, including Tesco, Dollar General Media Networks, John Lewis Partnership, PayPal, Home Depot's Orange Apron Media and Nubank.
The funding will accelerate transparent AI decisioning, making every ranking, bid and placement decision explainable, auditable and configurable by retailers.
Cafferty & Company served as the sole advisor to Kevel on the transaction.
"Commerce media is entering a new era, one defined by ownership, transparency, and AI-driven infrastructure built around the business rather than intermediaries," said James Avery, Founder & CEO, Kevel. "To keep commerce media open and competitive, businesses must own their monetization and data. This raise enables us to scale the technology retailers and marketplaces need to build differentiated media networks, drive sustainable growth, and compete head-to-head with the largest platforms."
"Kevel has built an impressive, highly differentiated platform that enables customers to rapidly launch and scale retail media businesses tailored to their unique brands and audiences," said Blake Zhang, Managing Director in ORIX USA's Growth Capital business. "As the market continues to expand across on-site, off-site, in-store and other emerging channels, we believe Kevel is well positioned to help customers navigate that growing complexity and scale across an increasingly broad ecosystem."
"Kevel's continued investment in building cutting-edge infrastructure and AI to power commerce media networks is truly incredible," commented Philip Lewis, Partner, Fulcrum Equity Partners. "We are thrilled to continue investing to ensure that Kevel has the resources to support the complex needs of our partners."
The investment reinforces Kevel's position as the API-first infrastructure layer for AI-enabled commerce media, built on a simple principle: AI that retailers can see into, control, and trust. As AI becomes increasingly central to media monetization, retailers need real visibility into how decisions are made and confidence that those decisions align with their business goals. Kevel's transparent AI shows exactly how and why every ad decision is made, so retailers can prove performance to advertisers, protect the shopper experience, and keep full ownership of their data and models.
The funding will accelerate Kevel's next stage of growth, with transparent AI at the center of its product roadmap. The company will continue developing its AI decisioning and optimization capabilities so that every ranking, bid and placement decision is explainable, auditable and configurable by retailers. The company will also expand globally into new retail and commerce media categories and deepen its strategic advisory services.
About Kevel
Kevel powers top retail and commerce media networks globally. Kevel helps businesses build a media network around its unique goals. This enables them to create differentiated media experiences, unlock new revenue streams, and scale in an AI-first world. Built API-first, Kevel combines the speed of buying with the control of building. Companies can use Kevel's transparent AI or bring their own data and models, giving them the flexibility to evolve their media business as customers, advertisers, and market opportunities change. The result is a media network that launches quickly, adapts continuously, and scales revenue over time.
