Advertising & Internet Private Companies: Needham Growth Conference Takeaways

By Laura Martin & Dean Medina

 

Last week, during the 28th Annual Needham Growth Conference (NGC) in NYC, we shared the stage with 35 companies, public and private, during fireside chats and panels. About 20 of these companies were private. In this note, we summarize our top 3 takeaways from private companies we spoke with, as well as highlighting the vision, strategic position, execution, and our financial estimates for the 10 private companies that we believe are best positioned to impact the future of media, advertising and/or the internet.

 

Key Takeaways

 

Taken together, our key takeaways from the 20 private companies we interacted with on-stage last week include:

  1. GenAI. Every company will have an AI-based product in market in 2026, and several will be paying for 3rd party AI-related tools to improve their ROIC (eg, workforce automation).
    • Investment Implications: Although Wall Street continues to worry about an investment bubble, every one of the private companies on stage are investing in GenAI tools and features in 2026. Since many of the private speakers were founders, without a need to satisfy public shareholders, we believe the unanimity of their decisions across industries and products suggests that AI will be better than (ie, disrupt) what came before.
  2. Data as a category is becoming more valuable over time, but also the valuation disparity between good data and bad data is rising. In media, advertising and the internet space, permissioned 1st-party data is the most valuable because running the same products at global scale maximizes economics, and the EU’s GDPR privacy regs become the gating factor.
    • Investment Implications. Every company thinking about the 3-5 year timeframe is introducing products that rely less on buying 3rd party data, and more on creating a data feed of 1st party data they can both integrate into their own differentiated products, and license to LLMs.
  3. Capital access is becoming harder and more expensive for private companies in the media, advertising and consumer-internet space. Several private companies noted that more recent funding rounds have been harder and more expensive than prior funding rounds.
    • Investment Implications. As uncertainty rises, the discount rate rises, and near term payoffs become more valuable. GenAI companies have a track record of growing revs exponentially, which private media companies can not. For example, CoreWeave grew its revs within 3 years, from $16mm in 2022 to ~$4B in 2025, and Anthropic grew its revs with in 3 years from $10mm in 2022 to ~$6B in 2025. There is no media company that can achieve these revenue growth rates, we believe, so capital access is becoming more expensive.

 

KERV.ai

  • Overview. KERV.ai is an Austin-based, AdTech and AI software company that turns digital video content into interactive, contextually relevant, and shoppable experiences by using patented pixel-edge AI to capture metadata across every frame. KERV does this on every screen across connected TV (CTV), online video (OLV), and social channels. This technology allows objects and scenes in video to become clickable/shoppable assets, facilitates rich first-party engagement metrics, and powers enhanced campaign performance and contextual targeting without relying on cookies.
  • Strategically. KERV sits at the intersection of AI video analytics, contextual media, and commerce, giving advertisers measurable, interactive ad formats and offering publishers new monetization spaces.
  • Execution. KERV’s recent products include the launch of an industry-first object-level Contextual Marketplace for premium CTV and OLV ad units in Oct 2025, and a collaboration with Amazon Ads that allows KERV’s interactive features to be activated across Amazon’s website as well as third-party premium CTV partners.
  • AI. AI-driven interactive video and advertising solutions, including detailed positioning on how its patented object-level metadata and interactive formats are poised to transform passive video into high-performance brand outcomes.
  • Results. Kerv case studies show 8× higher purchase intent lift, 3× higher ad recall, and ~2.6× higher brand consideration compared to traditional CTV benchmarks.
  • FTEs. Kerv had ~100 FTEs at 12/31/25, we estimate.
  • Financials. We estimate KERV.ai’s 2025 revenues at ~$100mm.
  •  

Read the full article on Needham. 

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Jake Williams
VP, Brand & Agency Partnerships

Jake Williams is the VP of Brand and Agency Partnerships at KERV.ai. He joined KERV in 2021 as one of the inaugural members of the Brand and Agency Partnerships team. Since then, he has successfully expanded the team of partnership leads and now manages the East Coast portfolio. 

Before joining KERV, Jake held a role at GumGum, where he led partnerships with PHD Media. His career began at Digitas, where he worked on the American Express account. Outside of work, Jake has an adorable dog named Luna—after whom one of our conference rooms is named. Fun fact: Jake is a triplet!

Mark Corte
VP, Brand & Agency Partnerships

Mark Corte is the VP of Brand & Agency Partnerships for the Midwest and West regions at KERV.ai. He leads a team focused on growing KERV’s AI-powered video solutions by showing advertisers how turning their standard video and static creative into interactive, shoppable experiences drives higher engagement, deeper interaction, and higher sales conversions. 

Mark has 20+ years of experience developing and executing sales strategies across existing and emerging media platforms. He has built strong relationships with decision-makers and representatives of Fortune 500 brands, as well as leaders in corporate innovation and transformation—relationships rooted from his experience at The Trade Desk, Warner Bros. Discovery, and The Weather Channel. His previous experiences paved his path to a career in streaming and linear video across sports, news and entertainment, as well as OLV, display, programmatic, and data-driven audience-buying solutions. Mark has built trust with his clients and team by prioritizing clear, transparent, and direct communication, and by exemplifying agility, grit, and grace under stress.

Mark lives with his wife and three teenage boys, who have him busy as an unpaid rideshare driver across great Los Angeles. He’s a native Chicagoan—still a fan of all Chicago sports teams, (sans the Cubs)—and an alum of the University of Iowa.

Rich Kentopp
VP, Product Management

Rich Kentopp is the VP of Product at KERV.ai, where he leads the Product Management team and plays a key role in shaping the company’s technology strategy. Since joining, he has scaled the Product team, built new channels of communication between technology and the business, and partnered cross-functionally to deliver innovative solutions that drive measurable business impact.

With over a decade of experience scaling startups across the health tech, social impact, and ad tech industries, Rich brings a blend of strategic thinking, team-building, and user-centered approach to his work. His leadership is grounded in empathy and clarity—skills shaped by both his pastoral background and formal theological training.

Rich holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. His time in ministry continues to influence his approach as a technology leader: mission-driven, collaborative, and people-first.

Devin Monds
Head of EMEA Sales

Devin is a dedicated and experienced media sales professional with over 15 years in the digital media space in both North America and EMEA. He most recently headed up the International Team at Adludio, the premier advertising platform for delivering strong creative on mobile devices. Prior to his role at Adludio, Devin worked on the Global Brand Partnerships team at CAA Sports in London, and was International Sales Director at LoopMe where he built out the US West Coast Sales Team from Los Angeles. With a proven track record of new business development and revenue generation, Devin has a multitude of solid relationships with brands and agencies, globally.

He relishes the opportunity to engage with new clients on a daily basis, in order to identify tailored solutions that can drive their desired outcomes. Furthermore, he takes pride in his culinary skills, often experimenting with new recipes and delivering delectable results.






    Brad Quinn
    SVP, Enterprise & Publisher Partnerships

    Brad Quinn is the SVP of Enterprise Partnerships at KERV.ai, spearheading collaboration across Publishers, Platforms and Retail Media Networks. Focusing on KERV’s patented metadata, he establishes and leads relationships with content providers and platforms to bring contextual targeting, brand safety and interactivity to life. He works with both US-based and Global partners. 

    Prior to joining KERV, Brad began his career at Publicis as a Buyer and Planner before moving to Paramount and then Warner Brothers Discovery in Sales & Business Development roles.

    David Knight
    VP, Engineering

    Before joining KERV in 2018, David Knight spent over 31 years building software products for large corporations like IBM and Schlumberger, 3-person “garage” startups and everything in between. He’s spent the last 15 years discovering and refining the tools, development process, and necessary culture that create great Engineering teams capable of meeting the special demands of technology driven startups.

    Dan Bloomfield
    VP, Technical Ad Operations

    Daniel Bloomfield is the VP of Technical Operations at KERV.ai. He oversees the Ad Operations teams, which supports the set-up and trafficking of campaigns across all DSPs and ad servers. His team also investigates and helps resolve discrepancies and ad-related issues. 

    Before joining KERV, Daniel has had a long career in digital advertising. He began his career working for NBC Universal in 2006, and after moving to Austin, he continued his career by continuing to work with TV publishers on VAST and VPAID ads. In 2014 he began to work in the programmatic ad space. 

    Daniel has a Bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.

    Creed Pettit
    SVP, Head of Partnerships

    Creed Pettit is an entrepreneurial sales executive offering experience in all aspects of solutions selling, team management, negotiation, organizational leadership, go-to-market strategies and momentum driven models. Prior to joining KERV, Creed served as Media & Entertainment Vertical Sales Leader, Global Business Solutions at TikTok.

    Karen Germ
    VP of Marketing

    Karen Germ is a seasoned marketing and communications professional with a nearly 15‑year history serving in leadership roles across the advertising and technology landscape. Most recently, Karen served as OAAA’s VP of Marketing where she implemented industry leading initiatives to elevate and promote the power of OOH for advertisers, agencies, partners and consumers. 

    Ryan Schoenfeld
    VP, Technical Partnerships

    Ryan Schoenfeld is currently the VP of Technical Partnerships at KERV.ai, and is responsible for bridging KERV’s robust metadata and ad toolset with tech platforms in the space. Additionally, he spearheads mapping industry infrastructures and systems across ad servers, SSPs, and SSAI platforms, with the ultimate goal of innovating in the most efficient and scalable ways for KERV’s partners. He is passionate about strategy and is constantly looking for net-new solutions that will maximize partner outcomes and amplify results. 

    Prior to joining KERV, Ryan started his career at a small, local, media-buying agency that was later acquired by LIN Media before undergoing two more acquisitions into Nexstar Broadcasting. During this time, he expanded into management and leadership roles focusing on media buying and programmatic strategy before ultimately joining KERV to lead operational strategy with a focus on media planning and programmatic buying.

    Ryan holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has been leading strategic teams for over ten years.

    Bill Roberson
    VP, Creative Strategy & Design

    Bill Roberson is the VP of Creative Strategy and Design at KERV.ai. Bringing over 17 years of experience in the digital space, Bill specializes in Media Buying, Client Services and Ad Operations, including Media Optimization and Publisher development. 

    Prior to KERV, Bill spent 10 years at Nexstar (Previously Lin Digital and Red McCombs Media). Bill’s intrinsic creativity and exposure to so many specialties within the Media landscape has allowed him to grow into the role he feels he was meant for: leading Creative Strategy and Design.

    Grant Gorton
    VP, UX & Design

    As KERV.ai’s VP of UX/UI & Design, Grant Gorton brings over 20 years of experience in design and creative direction. Before joining KERV, he specialized in packaging and branding design in Pittsburgh, PA. He then returned to his hometown of Austin, transitioning into digital media, where he built and managed a team of designers focused on creating custom rich media ad units, developing new products, and supporting branding and pitch materials.

    Since joining KERV in 2018, Grant has played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s trajectory by establishing and leading a team responsible for its branding and visual identity, event and social marketing, and web design. His team also developed KERV’s sales and marketing materials, spec documentation, and significantly contributed to the creation and design of the company’s comprehensive product offerings. 

    Currently, Grant primarily focuses on KERV’s higher-level platform products, developing intuitive user experiences and innovative solutions that enable clients to unlock new opportunities and extract greater value from their extensive content and data collections.

    Michael Fleischman
    Chief Financial Officer

    Michael is currently the CFO of KERV Interactive in addition to being an Executive in Residence at Progress Partners, a Merchant Investment Bank and Venture Fund. A seasoned C-Suite executive with a broad array of expertise in Accounting, Financial Planning, M&A, Board Governance and External Commercial Banking and Private Equity Relationships.

    Prior to KERV Interactive Michael was the CFO and current Board Member at Digital Remedy, a privately held media execution company supporting agencies, publishers, and brands in navigating the complex ad tech landscape of digital success.

    Prior to Digital Remedy Michael spent 20 years at Cablevision and Rainbow Media Holdings
    during which he was instrumental in the launch and management of multiple Regional sports networks and a number of National Cable Networks including American Movie Classics (AMC), Bravo, The Independent Film Channel as well as the structuring of partnerships with companies including Liberty Media, NBC, Fox/NewsCorp, and MGM.

    Additionally, Michael played lead finance role in the acquisition of a number of professional sports teams including Madison Square Garden, the successful IPO of Cablevision, and a tracking stock at Rainbow Media. Michael was also involved in the creation and successful launch of Rainbow Advertising Sales, one of the cable industry’s first local advertising sales rep firms and has married his linear experience with a robust understanding of the intricacies of new media, creating a unique skill-set.

    A native of the New York City area, Michael resides with his wife where he enjoys biking, tennis and spending time with his wife and three adult children.

    Taylor Pate
    Chief Technology Officer

    Taylor Pate is the CTO at KERV Interactive, with over 16 years of experience in the advertising and creative industry, known among his peers as a technical and creative powerhouse.

    Taylor’s career began in 2008 as an animator and art director, specializing in the design and production of interactive art. He created 3D illustrations for advertisers such as HP and Dell, and developed 3D animations and tools for top video game series including Club Penguin and The Sims.

    Transitioning to focus on automation, e-commerce, and software development, Taylor joined LIN Digital in Austin, Texas. Over five years, he built a powerful framework to automate the production of thousands of rich media ads annually, developed high-performance ads for major brands, and led the engineering of PHNX, the company’s order management system that processed millions of dollars in ad campaigns monthly. He concluded his tenure at Nexstar Digital as Director of Engineering, leading a team of over 16 engineers and product managers before taking on his current role at KERV Interactive.

    Jay Wolff
    Chief Revenue Officer

    Jay Wolff is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at KERV Interactive, leading global revenue and partnerships. In addition to KERV, Jay is the President of 212NYC, New York’s leading organization for the digital advertising and the media industry. 212NYC’s mission is to build a better advertising industry by providing the programming, tools, and thought leadership to help move the industry forward.

    Jay’s expertise in scaling significant revenue and partner growth in the advertising industry spans 20 years. Most recently, Jay served as Chief Revenue Officer of Varick Media, and Chief Growth Officer at Boostr, the first end-to-end SaaS revenue management system for media companies. Previously, as Regional Vice President of SambaTV, Wolff built the revenue organization and east coast market from the ground up to $100M in revenue. Jay has been tapped for industry thought leadership and panel participation by the likes of Mediapost, Ad Age, and Digiday. 

    Prior to joining SambaTV, Wolff served as Vice President of agency and brand partnerships at PulsePoint; instrumental to the merger of ContextWeb and Datran Media.

    Originally from Armonk, NY, Jay holds a BS in Marketing from Syracuse University and a Certificate of Management from the University of Chicago. Jay resides in Rye Brook, NY with his wife, darling daughter, Olivia, and newborn son, Logan.

    Dan Bienenfeld
    President

    Dan Bienenfeld is currently the Co-Founder and President of KERV Interactive and a seasoned serial entrepreneur who has built startups for more than 35 years. Before joining KERV he has founded seven startups and architected successful exits for a number of them. For four years, he served as CEO of TimeCard Specialists, which created a cutting-edge time attendance software app that streamlined payroll for union members in the TV, film, and commercial industries. TimeCard Specialists was sold in 2016.

    Before that, he was CEO of Total Vision Care for nearly eight years. Total Vision Care built one of the largest mobile diagnostic services in eye care. This service provided ophthalmologists & optometrists with state of the art equipment and licensed technicians right in their own practice to diagnose various eye diseases.

    Gary Mittman
    Chief Executive Officer

    Gary Mittman is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of KERV Interactive and brings more than 30 years in technology and direct marketing, as well as substantial experience in building startups to exit with creativity and agile development. Before joining KERV he held numerous top-ranking leadership roles; Founder & President of Nami Media (which was acquired by Lin/Nexstar Media Group), CEO & Founder of Marina Communications (also acquired), and Vice President of New Business Development – Direct Response at Western International Media leading the team in the new frontier of Infomercials.

    Gary brings a decade of experience in the entertainment industry, including managing all tier one acts booking for New York City’s premiere performance nightclub “The Ritz” as its Executive Manager and Booking Agent, Executive Producer of the first MTV concert series “Live At The Ritz”, a Professional Manager at Chappell Music Publishing, and started out as an Assistant to legendary Clive Davis at Arista Records.

    Andi Fenster
    CPO

    Andi Fenster went into the profession of Human Resources 30 years ago, because she believed from a young age that the way you treat your employees is what you get out of them. Her goal as an HR professional has been to help create the type of work environments that inspire folks to want to come to work. She is also a Management/Leadership/Career Coach and her focus is optimizing humans focusing on the mind‑body connection. 

    “We, each, have tremendous potential and the abilities to level‑up if we choose to understand how to get the support we need to get us there. Helping talent thrive and helping them create success is my reason for doing what I do.”

    Marika Roque
    Chief Innovation Officer

    Marika Roque is currently in her second year as the Chief Innovation Officer at KERV Interactive, following four years as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. She is recognized for her expertise in digital media, data, and organizational infrastructures, with over 15 years of professional leadership experience. Prior to joining KERV, Marika worked as the Vice President of Digital Operations for Mass², a division of the multi-billion-dollar corporation Nexstar Digital LLC. Before that, she served as Vice President of Digital Media & Activation at LIN Digital and Nexstar, leading several departments while advising leadership on digital strategy during multiple acquisitions, including Media General, LKQD, Yashi, Dedicated Media, Federated Media, etc..

    Marika has held senior-level positions with leading agency and digital technology teams in Austin, Texas, including Sizmek and GSD&M, a subsidiary of the Omnicom Group. She also spent several years in Chicago working for FCB Global and Starcom MediaVest Group, a division of the Publicis Groupe. At Starcom, she played a key role in creating the first agency-side programmatic pipelines, contributing to what the industry now refers to as an agency trading desk. Her extensive experience in programmatic advertising dates back to its inception. She also worked on global client strategy and activation for brands like Newell Rubbermaid and their subsidiaries, including Paper Mate and Sharpie, as well as Microsoft B2B. 

    Marika holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from The University of Texas at Austin, where she was also a Division I collegiate athlete. Hook ’em.