Softbank announces partnership with ad tech startup Geniee

Softbank, Japan’s robot-loving telco, today announced a business tie-up with Tokyo-based ad tech startup Geniee. Starting next month, Softbank will launch a supply-side advertising platform (SSP), in collaboration with Geniee, which the wireless carrier hopes will give a boost to its internet advertising business. As part of the deal, Softbank will purchase a minority stake in Geniee that accounts for 32.9 percent of the startup’s outstanding shares.

Founded in 2010, Geniee utilizes real-time bidding (RTB) – the buying and selling of online advertising impressions (how many times an ad is seen) via real-time auctions that occur in milliseconds. Auctions happen in the blink of an eye because they are done through “programmatic buying,” an automated system for bidding on ad slots based on factors (like demographics and placement on the website itself) that are predetermined by the advertiser. RTB boots efficiency for advertisers by making sure impressions aren’t wasted on the wrong audience while also cutting costs associated with hiring actual human ad buyers.

Geniee’s RTB network facilitates 20 to 30 billion impressions per month – by processing a mind-boggling one trillion monthly bid requests.

A Softbank spokesperson tells Tech in Asia that the company had already employed RTB for its own ad business, but that it decided to partner with Geniee because “[it] is one of the most successful and largest SSP operators in Japan.” The spokesperson declined to reveal the value of its acquired shares.

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Geniee raised 72.6 million yen (US$677,000) from Global Brain in 2011 and added 100 million yen (US$933,000) from Gree Ventures in 2012. The startup also raised an undisclosed amount from Yahoo Japan, Transcosmos, and OPT last year.