Kevel raises $52m to scale retail media ad infrastructure

Kevel raises $52m to scale retail media ad infrastructure

21 October 2026: Kevel, a Durham, North Carolina company whose API lets retailers and marketplaces run their own advertising networks, says it has raised $52 million in new capital, the largest raise in its history. The money comes from expanded investments by Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures and Iberis Capital and from growth capital provided by ORIX Corporation USA. Kevel's total raised now exceeds $100 million.

Not yet independently verified. Kevel does not name a stage or a lead investor, or say how the $52 million splits between equity and growth capital; a debt advisory firm acted as its sole adviser, so part of it may be debt. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Who Kevel serves

In retail media a retailer sells advertising on its own site, app and stores using its own shopper data. Kevel sells the infrastructure rather than the network: an API-first ad server and decisioning layer that a retailer builds its own media business on. It says more than 100 commerce media networks use it, naming Tesco, Dollar General Media Networks, the John Lewis Partnership, PayPal, Scandinavian Airlines, Home Depot's Orange Apron Media and Nubank, across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

dunnhumby, Tesco's retail media arm, is both investor and partner: its recently launched Dunnhumby Network Alliance is built on Kevel. "To keep commerce media open and competitive, businesses must own their monetization and data," said James Avery, Kevel's founder and chief executive.

Transparent decisioning as the pitch

The release leans on control. Kevel says its AI shows how and why each ad decision was made, so a retailer can prove performance to advertisers, protect the shopper experience and keep ownership of its data and models, or bring its own models instead. The money goes into that decisioning and optimisation, into expansion into new retail and commerce media categories, and into strategic advisory services for networks moving from launch to scale.

Blake Zhang, a managing director in ORIX USA's growth capital business, said the market is expanding "across on-site, off-site, in-store and other emerging channels", which is where Kevel is positioned to help customers.

Reading the round

Kevel does not call this a lettered round or name a lead, and the release says Cafferty & Company, an independent debt advisory firm, acted as its sole adviser. ORIX USA describes itself as specialising in credit, real estate, private equity and managed solutions for the middle market. The release does not say how much of the $52 million is equity. Our ad server software category lists 15 products.

Company profile on TrustList: Kevel

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• Santé raises $15m Series A for AI point of sale in liquor stores

Sources

• Kevel: Kevel secures $52 million to scale AI-driven infrastructure for the future of commerce media, 21 October 2026