- Companies
- Outbrain
Outbrain Revenue, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Outbrain is valued at $921M as of July 2015, a 1.0x multiple on its last reported $950M revenue.
Last Outbrain valuation
$921M
Undisclosed stage · Jul 2015
Last Outbrain funding round
$200M
Undisclosed stage · Jul 2021
Outbrain revenue
$950M
Undisclosed stage · Jul 2015
Key investors in Outbrain
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Index Ventures
Viola Ventures
Vintage Investment Partners
HarbourVest Partners
Susquehanna Growth Equity
About Outbrain
Outbrain is a recommendation engine for open web publishers, powering personalized content discovery through on-site feeds. It facilitates advertiser access to engaged audiences via targeted campaigns. New York-headquartered since its 2006 founding, the company maintains offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Participating publishers include ESPN, CNN, Le Monde, Fox News, The Guardian, Slate, The Telegraph, New York Post, India.com, Sky News, and Time Inc.
Founded
2006
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Advertising, Subscription
Revenue
$950M (Jul 2015)
Valuation
$921M (Jul 2015)
Outbrain Valuation
Outbrain is currently valued at $921M, based on its undisclosed-stage round in July 2015.
The $50M round was led by Susquehanna Growth Equity.
Outbrain's valuation has moved from $1B at its Series E in October 2013 to $921M in July 2015, across 2 priced rounds.
Outbrain valuation by funding round
Revenue multiple| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2015 | Undisclosed stage | $921M | 1.0x |
| Oct 2013 | Series E | $1B | - |
Outbrain Revenue
Outbrain's latest recorded revenue is $950M, as of its undisclosed-stage round in July 2015. At a $921M valuation, that implies a 1.0x revenue multiple.
Outbrain revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2015 | $950M | $921M | 1.0x | Undisclosed stage |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
Outbrain Funding History
Outbrain has raised a total of $330M across 4 funding rounds.
Outbrain's first fundraising round was a $35M Series E in October 2013. The most recent completed round was a $200M undisclosed-stage round in July 2021.
Outbrain funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2021 | Undisclosed stage | The Baupost Group (lead) | $200M | - | Outbrain, a leading recommendation platform for the open web, secured $200 million in funding from The Baupost Group on July 6, 2021, as part of its strategic financing ahead of its planned IPO. The investment took the form of senior subordinated secured notes, which were intended to convert to convertible notes post-IPO, with protective valuation floors such as $236 million if the IPO occurred before August 15, 2021, or $240 million between August 15 and December 31. Outbrain reported strong Q1 2021 financials in its IPO prospectus, with revenue surging 29% to $228 million from $177 million the prior year, alongside a net profit of $10.7 million versus a $9.6 million loss. The company, founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York with global offices, partners with publishers and marketers in over 55 countries, powering content discovery for one-third of the world's online consumers via recommendation feeds on media sites. This funding supported Outbrain's expansion plans, innovation for premium media partners, and growth of its advertising platform, coming shortly after filing its S-1 for a Nasdaq IPO on June 29, 2021. Baupost, managing $31 billion with a value-oriented approach led by Seth Klarman, aligned with Outbrain's vision. The IPO later occurred on July 27, 2021, raising funds at $20 per share. |
| May 2016 | Undisclosed stage | - | $45M | - | Outbrain, a content discovery engine founded in 2006, closed a $45 million funding round in May 2016 from undisclosed investors. The company's CEO Yaron Galai announced the round via blog post, stating the capital would be used to continue scaling operations and enhancing technology, including investments in talent, R&D, organic product innovation like Outbrain for Chat, and acquisitions such as Revee. By the time of this funding round, Outbrain had raised a cumulative total of $195 million in equity financing across multiple prior rounds, including a $35 million Series D led by Index Ventures and a $50 million injection from SIG fund Susquehanna Growth Equity in the preceding year. The company operated 14 offices globally and had invested more than $75 million in R&D to date. |
| Jul 2015 | Undisclosed stage | Susquehanna Growth Equity (lead) | $50M | $921M | Outbrain, an Israeli-founded content recommendation platform established in 2006 by Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav, raised $50 million in a private equity round on July 27, 2015, led by Susquehanna Growth Equity to support strategic acquisitions and growth. Susquehanna Growth Equity, a firm targeting growth-stage companies in software, internet, and information services, highlighted Outbrain as a notable investment alongside others like MMIT and Zyme Solutions. Outbrain's platform connects publishers globally, enabling consumers to discover content and helping premium publishers reach wider audiences with relevant recommendations. The investment aligned with Outbrain's expansion in content discovery, competing in a space later marked by merger talks with rival Taboola. Outbrain went public via IPO in July 2021 raising $160 million, and in 2024 pursued an acquisition of Teads involving debt financing. |
| Oct 2013 | Series E | HarbourVest Partners (lead); GlenRock Israel; Index Ventures; Vintage Investment Partners; Rhodium; Viola Ventures; Lightspeed Venture Partners; Gemini Israel Ventures | $35M | $1B | Outbrain is a content recommendation platform founded in 2006 that generates revenue for publishers by displaying feeds of content and ads, known as chumboxes, on websites and mobile platforms. Advertisers pay on a pay-per-click basis, with approximately 75% of that revenue shared with publishers. The company, headquartered in New York with Israeli roots, had raised $194 million in total funding by 2020 from investors including Index Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. It acquired companies like Surphace in 2011, Scribit in 2012, Visual Revenue in 2013, Revee in 2016, Zemanta in 2017, and Ligatus in 2019 to expand its capabilities in content recommendation and native advertising. The specified 2013 funding round involved investors such as Daniel Recanati, Gemini Israel Ventures, GlenRock Israel, HarbourVest Partners (lead), Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rhodium, Vintage Investment Partners, and Viola Ventures, around October 22, 2013. Later developments include a planned $850 million merger with Taboola in 2020, valuing the combined entity over $2 billion, which was called off due to pandemic impacts on ad budgets and financing issues. Both companies claimed about $1 billion in annual revenues at that time and were profitable. |
Who has invested in Outbrain?
10 investors have backed Outbrain across its funding rounds, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Viola Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Susquehanna Growth Equity.
Lead investors include The Baupost Group, Susquehanna Growth Equity and HarbourVest Partners.
Outbrain Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Jul 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2013 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Jul 2015 | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 10 Outbrain investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.
Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Outbrain
Outbrain has acquired 6 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Outbrain was on August 1st 2024. Outbrain acquired Teads Holding for $900M.
Latest Acquisitions by Outbrain
| Description | Teads Holding Co is the omnichannel outcomes platform for the open internet, driving full-funnel results for marketers across premium media. Its Focus on meaningful business outcomes for branding and performance objectives, the combined company ensures value is driven with every media dollar by leveraging predictive AI technology to connect quality media, beautiful brand creative, and context-driven addressability and measurement. | video intelligence by Outbrain is a New York-based contextual video advertising platform using AI to match ads with editorial content. The system analyzes videos for topics, sentiment, and audience fit, placing programmatic buys alongside publisher inventory on sites like ESPN and Time. Integrated with Outbrain's recommendation engine, it delivers billions of monthly views across desktop and mobile for brands in automotive and finance. | Ligatus is a Cologne-headquartered native advertising platform operating across ten European countries including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. As a subsidiary of Bertelsmann's Gruner + Jahr, it provides supply-side and demand-side platforms for publishers and brands. Ligatus delivers billions of ad impressions monthly on over 1,400 premium sites, utilizing dynamic algorithms for audience engagement. | AdNgin is a technology platform designed for premium publishers to optimize and manage advertising inventory. Backed by specialists in online advertising and R&D, it delivers tailored solutions for ad monetization. Founded in 2016, the company operates from its base in Asia with a focus on high-value publisher needs. | |
| HQ Country | |||||
| HQ City | New York City, NY | Zurich | Cologne | Tel Aviv | |
| Deal Date | 1 Aug 2024 | 22 Nov 2021 | 26 Feb 2019 | 5 Jun 2018 | |
| Valuation | $900M | $55M | undisclosed | undisclosed | |
| EV/Revenue | |||||
| EV/EBITDA | |||||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Outbrain acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||||
Outbrain Competitors
Outbrain competitors include listed companies like Ibotta, Vobile and Taboola, and private ones like Madhive, CHEQ and iSpot.tv.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | $125M | - | $900M | 7.2x | ||
| Publicly listed | $342M | $7M | $972M | 2.4x | ||
| Publicly listed | $366M | $63M | $976M | 2.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $1.9B | $121M | $993M | 0.5x | ||
| Private | $4M | - | $1B | 250.0x | ||
| Private | $75M | - | $1B | 13.3x |
Outbrain Public Comps
Outbrain is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Ibotta, Vobile, Taboola, MNTN, Criteo, PubMatic, Septeni Holdings, Sprout Social, MediaAlpha and Yext.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $342M | $7M | 2.5x | 2.4x | 114.9x | 15.3x | |||
| $366M | $63M | 3.1x | 2.6x | 18.0x | 20.1x | |||
| $1.9B | $121M | 0.5x | 0.5x | 8.4x | 4.5x | |||
| $290M | ($10M) | 2.1x | 1.8x | (63.5x) | 6.7x | |||
| $1.9B | $323M | 0.4x | 0.7x | 2.2x | 2.1x | |||
| $283M | $22M | 2.4x | 2.3x | 30.9x | 10.1x | |||
| $195M | $36M | 3.0x | 2.8x | 16.1x | 15.6x | |||
| $458M | ($31M) | 1.3x | 1.2x | (18.6x) | 8.1x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Outbrain competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Outbrain
| When was Outbrain founded? | Outbrain was founded in 2006. |
| Where is Outbrain headquartered? | Outbrain is headquartered in New York City, NY, United States. |
| Is Outbrain publicly listed? | No, Outbrain is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Outbrain's valuation? | Outbrain was last valued at $921M in its undisclosed-stage round in July 2015. |
| How much funding has Outbrain raised? | Outbrain has raised $330M across 4 funding rounds. |
| What was Outbrain's last funding round? | Outbrain's last funding round was a $200M undisclosed-stage round in July 2021, led by The Baupost Group. |
| Who are Outbrain's investors? | Outbrain's investors include GlenRock Israel, Index Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, The Baupost Group, Rhodium, Viola Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Susquehanna Growth Equity, Gemini Israel Ventures and HarbourVest Partners. |
| What is Outbrain's revenue? | Outbrain's latest recorded revenue is $950M (July 2015). |
| What is Outbrain's revenue multiple? | Outbrain's latest valuation implies a 1.0x revenue multiple ($921M valuation on $950M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to Outbrain? | Companies comparable to Outbrain include Madhive, Ibotta, Vobile, Taboola, CHEQ and iSpot.tv. |
| How many companies has Outbrain acquired? | Outbrain has acquired 6 companies, including Teads Holding, video intelligence by Outbrain, Ligatus, AdNgin and Zemanta. |
| What was the largest acquisition by Outbrain? | The $900M acquisition of Teads Holding in August 2024 is the largest acquisition Outbrain has made to date. |
See companies similar to Outbrain
Start Your
Free Trial Today
Try Multiples for free for 3 days. Got questions or need a demo? Schedule a call with us below.




