Kevel secures $52M to expand AI-powered retail media platform and pursue acquisitions

Retail media technology company Kevel has raised $52 million in Series D funding round to expand its AI-powered advertising infrastructure, pursue acquisitions and strengthen its position in the commerce media market.

The funding includes investments from Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures and Iberis Capital, alongside growth capital from ORIX USA. The round brings Kevel’s total funding to more than $100 million and follows its $23 million Series C investment in March 2024. The company plans to direct the new capital toward product development, international expansion and potential acquisitions as retailers increasingly seek technology to operate and monetize their own advertising networks.

Kevel founder and CEO James Avery said that acquisitions could play a significant role in the company’s next stage of growth. The company is evaluating businesses offering complementary technologies, particularly those already integrated into retailers’ advertising operations. The strategy follows Kevel’s acquisition of off-site advertising specialist Nexta in 2025, which expanded its capabilities beyond advertising placements on retailers’ owned websites and applications. Avery also indicated that Kevel is approaching profitability and expects to reach that milestone by the end of 2026.

A central focus of the investment will be developing Kevel’s AI-driven advertising decisioning technology, which helps retailers manage how advertisements are selected, ranked and delivered across their digital properties. Kevel is focusing on making automated advertising decisions more transparent and configurable, allowing retailers to examine auction outcomes, adjust bidding models and understand the factors influencing ad placements.

Its API-based infrastructure enables retailers to integrate their own customer data and advertising models while maintaining control over their media networks. The company argues that retailers need greater visibility into advertising systems as AI becomes more involved in campaign optimization and inventory monetization.

Kevel currently provides advertising infrastructure for more than 100 commerce media networks, serving businesses across retail, financial services and travel. Its customers include Tesco, Dollar General, John Lewis Partnership, PayPal, Home Depot and Nubank.

The company is also working to connect retail media inventory with established advertising buying platforms. Through integrations involving The Trade Desk, Pacvue and Skai, advertisers can manage campaigns across participating retail networks without relying exclusively on individual retailers’ advertising interfaces. Kevel’s collaboration with dunnhumby on the Dunnhumby Network Alliance similarly aims to simplify advertising access across multiple retailers, including Tesco, John Lewis and Kingfisher.

The investment comes as retail media networks expand beyond sponsored product listings into off-site advertising and broader commerce media opportunities. At the same time, the increasing number of independent retail media platforms has created challenges for advertisers managing campaigns, measurement and reporting across different networks.

Kevel plans to address these challenges through additional integrations, AI-based optimization and potential acquisitions. The company has not disclosed its valuation following the funding round, identified acquisition targets or specified how much of the $52 million will be allocated to each initiative.