Kevel, a Durham, North Carolina-based advertising technology company, announced $52 million in new financing on October 21, 2026, marking its largest capital raise to date.
The financing includes additional strategic investments from Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures LLC and Iberis Capital, alongside growth capital provided by ORIX Corporation USA’s Growth Capital business.
The latest financing brings Kevel’s total capital raised to more than $100 million, according to the company. The announcement did not specify the breakdown of the financing between investment and growth capital.
Founded in 2010 by James Avery, Kevel originally operated as Adzerk before adopting its current brand. Avery continues to serve as the company’s CEO.
Kevel develops advertising infrastructure that enables retailers, marketplaces and commerce platforms to establish and operate their own advertising networks. Its API-first technology supports sponsored product placements, advertising delivery and campaign management, allowing businesses to manage monetisation using their own customer data and commercial strategies.
The company plans to use the financing to further develop its AI-powered advertising decisioning and optimisation capabilities. Its product roadmap focuses on giving retailers greater visibility into how advertising rankings, bids and placements are determined, with tools designed to make those decisions configurable and auditable.
Kevel also intends to expand into additional retail and commerce media categories, increase its international presence and strengthen its strategic advisory services.
According to Kevel, its technology supports more than 100 commerce media networks across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Its reported customers include Tesco, Dollar General Media Networks, John Lewis Partnership, PayPal, Scandinavian Airlines, Home Depot’s Orange Apron Media and Nubank.
The company also works with dunnhumby on the dunnhumby Network Alliance, an initiative designed to connect participating retailers’ advertising networks while allowing them to maintain control over their media businesses.
