Volition Press: Good morning, David! Why don’t you start by sharing the founding story of Screenverse and some insight into what the company does?
David Weinfeld: Good Morning! Screenverse is an ad management and monetization company for digital screens in the physical world. That means we have an incredible team of professionals who work day in and day out to best monetize screens you come in contact with in moments that matter. Our screens are in places like billboards on highways, urban panels in major cities, screens in luxury residential buildings, and other similar instances.
We launched the company in April 2020, and it was outside our founding plan to start it during a global pandemic. Interestingly, in some ways, COVID actually accelerated some of the programmatic trends because traditional buys were being canceled, and as everything was turning off, programmatic offered flexibility, especially in the space of essential businesses.
We had screens in every Walmart pharmacy nationwide and in and around major grocery stores. This enabled us to be very nimble and flexible at a time when the industry was going through an unprecedented upheaval. This environment created unique opportunities for us to continue to tell the programmatic story, wrap our arms around inventory that may not have been available, and also find phenomenal talent in a more remote world.
It’s always been engrained in our DNA that we started a digital out-of-home company at a time when everyone was being told to stay at home. From that, I believe Screenverse has a lot of grit and strength.
VP: Can you speak to just how vast the Screenverse network is?
DW: Today, we count over 90,000 screens within the Screenverse universe. That includes everything from digital billboards where we work with some of largest independent billboard operators nationwide, urban panels in major U.S. markets like New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D. C., and many other cities, screens in every Walmart nationwide via our partner, Pursuant Health, and other intriguing areas like digital jukeboxes globally via our partner TouchTunes.
We also continue to add inventory in places where we know we can make an impact and deliver value in areas where there is demand and a solid audience to reach. By the end of the year, I believe we will have over 100,0000 screens.
VP: Why did you decide to work with Volition as your investment partner?
DW: With Volition, we connected with the ethos and philosophy of the firm, specifically because a significant amount of deal flow is driven by outbound. There’s something about that flow we at Screenverse connect with. After all, that is how we founded our business, with everything being outbound. Additionally, at Volition, it is clear that their foundation is built on the mantra of “we’re going to go out and win.” I love that. Their emphasis on resourcefulness, tenacity, and grit also connected with us.
Then, as we got to meet the people, first, Analyst Kevin O’Donnell, was incredibly genuine, personable, and super candid. He made us feel comfortable and spoke to the core values of Volition being founder first. I will also be very transparent that I read many articles, newsletters, posts, and interviews with Larry, where Volition’s values were consistent and continued to shine through. After meeting with Larry in person in New York, I was able to hear the story of the firm and his vision for Screenverse. It was clear that we were like-minded, and Volition had individuals with high integrity.
I also wanted to mention how much of a pleasure it has been meeting the greater Volition team, like Senior Analyst Emily Pawlak, who has been fantastic.
Finally, the prospect of having someone like Larry on our board, who has had a depth of experience and success, is a force multiplier. These factors made us even more confident that this was a great fit.
VP: Final question, with the money that the Screenverse team has raised, how do you plan to invest that capital into your company?
DW: This is obviously an important question. A significant use of the capital raised will be to grow our team. We will be adding talent in several areas, including finance, sales, and client services. However, we will also be doubling down our technology investments to optimize performance for our network partners and deliver higher efficiencies.
We will continue to invest in tools that help our partners access demand across the entirety of the programmatic landscape in products that we know can make a significant impact for our partners. We want to continue to do the things that got us here but at a bigger, better, and faster scale.
