Garpun, a Moscow-based startup that provides digital agencies and corporate advertisers with online ad management tools, has raised $3.5 million from the Russian PE & VC fund iTech Capital.
The valuation of the startup has not been disclosed, but iTech Capital’s PR Director Victoria Gracheva told East-West Digital News that her fund usually maintains minority stakes in its portfolio companies.
Garpun helps advertisers manage paid search campaigns through Google Adwords as well as on the Russian services Yandex.Direct, Yandex.Market, Begun, and Vkontakte. Garpun’s customers are large and medium-sized businesses that spend at least $20,000 per month on SEM.
The startup’s software was launched in March 2012 after three years of development, Gracheva indicated. Garpun claims it has already been used for more than 10,000 ad campaigns containing more than 4 million keywords.
The founders aim to reach a significant share of the Russian market and to expand globally. “International development will start as soon as our product strategy can be adapted to market needs based on average campaign budgets,” Gracheva explained.
Last year iTech Capital injected no less than $10 million into SeoPult, a leading Russian SEO and online advertising automation platform.
The Russian online advertising market is one of the fastest growing in the world. It reached 56.3 billion rubles ($1.877 billion) last year, with contextual advertising accounting for more than two thirds of this market.
