AdQuick, a billboard platform for the digital age, scored a cool $2.1m from longtime billboard enthusiast (and Reddit co-founder) Alexis Ohanian.
Once a billboard buyer, now a billboard supplier
Ohanian, who has been called “The Mayor of the Internet,” first became a billboard enthusiast after purchasing billboard ads for political commentary.
But his professional interest in billboards began when he tried to surprise his wife, world champion tennis superstar Serena Williams, with 4 supportive ‘boards — but found the process “really antiquated.”
Eventually, Ohanian discovered AdQuick, a billboard company mapping inventory and creating tools to book and monitor advertisements.
As a billboard fanboy, Ohanian was impressed…
But as a businessman, he knew the company could do better. So, in 2017 he cut AdQuick a check for $1.1m via his VC firm Initialized Capital.
Ohanian just deepened his partnership with an additional $2.1m in funding and joined the company’s board — a testament to the company’s early success (so far, all the company’s outside funding has been provided by Ohanian).
The market for outdoor advertising is big (US advertisers spend $8B on outdoor ads annually) but it is notoriously difficult to unite digital and physical advertising. Somehow, AdQuick must succeed where other big fish like Netflix (which bid $300m for a billboard biz) have fallen flat.