Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian bets AdQuick can build a big billboard business

AdQuick, a startup that hopes to digitize the billboard-buying process, has a big backer in the form of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

AdQuick, a billboard platform for the digital age, scored a cool $2.1m from longtime billboard enthusiast (and Reddit co-founder) Alexis Ohanian. 

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian bets AdQuick can build a big billboard business

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.

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