Refinery89 partners with Capital D to accelerate growth

Refinery89 partners with Capital D to accelerate growth

Capital D will support Refinery89’s ambition to become the leading web and in-app publisher network in Europe and LATAM.

Refinery89, the AdTech platform dedicated to supporting European and LATAM digital publishers to drastically increase their results from advertising, today announces that it is partnering up with Capital D, the next generation private equity fund manager investing in disruptive founder-led mid-market businesses across Europe.

Founded in 2018 in Amsterdam by Hugo Welkers (CEO) and Robert Ottens (CPO), and headquartered in Madrid, Refinery89 is on a mission to fill the market-gap for high quality monetisation partners specialised in optimising advertising revenue for web and in-app publishers.

Refinery89 partners with digital publishers producing quality content across sports, hobbies and interests, local news and politics, and more. Refinery89 provides simple-to-implement monetisation solutions that enable its partners to grow their advertising revenue, offering sophisticated programmatic advertising capabilities and access to a wide range of direct and programmatic demand. Without Refinery89, these publishers often have to rely on generic technologies with narrower demand options. 

Alongside increasing advertising revenue, Refinery89’s technology enables publishers to substantially improve the user experience of their websites and their apps’ performance metrics, enhancing key elements to ensure faster and more efficient access to content.

Additionally, Refinery89 brings together publishers, direct advertisers, and media agencies by offering white-glove service and custom ad formats through its Interest-Driven Targeting technology. Aimed at generating optimal value across the ecosystem.

As a result, Refinery89 has experienced impressive growth, with a revenue increase of over 50% annually from 2021 to 2024, and currently serves over 1000 publishers. The company has successfully implemented its strategy for international expansion in multiple markets, laying the foundation for continued global growth.

Refinery89 is currently focused on the non-English language markets of the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Mexico and Brazil, which are often deemed overly complex by global AdTech partners. Refinery89 recently launched its in-app monetisation solution, which is currently exclusive to a select number of specialised app publishers, complementing the existing solution for websites.

Underlining the quality of Refinery89’s proposition is its Google Certified Publishing Partner accreditation and status as a member and licensed vendor in the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework. In 2023 Refinery89 became a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 company.

Refinery89 CEO Hugo Welkers, commented:

“We have made significant progress since we started out in 2018 with a clear purpose and commitment to create and deliver the best quality, innovative and scalable solutions for digital publishers and advertisers. Our partnerships go beyond driving advertising revenue growth—we are dedicated to helping publishers grow their business by increasing traffic, utilising the best ad technology in the market and providing white-glove service to all our customers.

“Today’s announcement is an exciting development for the Refinery89 team. We are on a pathway to realising our ambition to become the leading publisher network in Europe and LATAM. With Capital D, we have secured a valuable partner to enable us to become this market leader.”

Daryl Cohen, Partner Capital D, commented:

“We are very excited to partner with Hugo, Rob and the team who have built a fast growing and disruptive business, dedicated to optimising advertising revenue and improving efficiency for Tier 2 and Tier 3 European publishers.

“As Refinery89 realises its growth plan, its role as an audience aggregator in under-served, non-English language markets will become increasingly valuable, and allow brands to reach engaged and highly relevant audiences in its focus regions at scale.

“We look forward to supporting Refinery89 as it builds out further its web and in-app publisher relationships across Europe and beyond, while scaling its direct business with global advertisers.”