Content Recommendation Company Outbrain Buys Online Ad Optimization Startup

Israeli online content promotion company Outbrain Inc. announced Tuesday it had acquired AdNgin, a Tel Aviv-based startup offering an ad and paid content optimization and personalization tool. Outbrain did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

For daily updates, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.

AdNgin offers tools designed to optimize the performance of online ads and sponsored content by creating a personalized user experience based on users’ display preferences. Founded in 2014 in Tel Aviv by Amnon Lahav and Gil Rosenblum and employing a team of 10 freelancers, AdNgin raised $250,000 to date.

Outbrain was founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv and is now headquartered in New York. Outbrain provides a content promotion service to online advertisers and is regarded, alongside other Israeli company Taboola Inc., as an industry leader.

According to company data, Outbrain serves more than 275 billion content recommendations per month, reaching more than one billion monthly users and working with publishers including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, US Weekly, and The Guardian. Outbrain employs 650 people in offices in 16 other cities. AdNgin’s research and development activities will be annexed into Outbrain, with AdNgin founder Amnon Lahav heading a new Outbrain unit, the company said.

In an interview with Calcalist, Gilad de Vries, senior vice president of strategy at Outbrain, said the acquisition comes at the heels of a successful six-month pilot with AdNgin. “Up until now, our focus was on the content we recommend. With this acquisition, we can personalize the user experience—image size, fonts, color, placement, and more.”