Sonobi

About Sonobi

Sonobi operates as an independent advertising technology company, providing a media marketplace designed to directly connect advertisers with individual consumers. Founded in 2011 by Michael Connolly and Nathaniel Thomas, the firm emerged from the concepts developed at Connolly's prior venture, Digital Tech Publishing. Connolly, CEO, is a former US ARMY Captain and Blackhawk helicopter pilot with a background in software solutions for ad tech, who previously co-founded Digital Tech Publishing in 2009, which was acquired in 2012. This earlier company's work in managing data and monetizing web applications laid the groundwork for Sonobi.

The company's business model centers on shifting advertising from an impression-based to an individual-based framework. It serves premium media properties, including top comScore publishers, and Fortune 500 advertisers. Revenue is generated by providing technology that facilitates direct collaboration and transactions between these publishers and marketers, aiming to reduce intermediary fees. Sonobi has secured a total of $10.4 million in funding over two rounds, including a Series A in 2015 and a Series B in 2020 led by Cohere Capital.

Sonobi's core offering is its JetStream platform, an advertising technology that enables people-based marketing. JetStream utilizes a proprietary People-Based ID (PBID) to identify and match real audiences across various devices with programmatic buying platforms. This technology allows advertisers to use their own first-party CRM and DMP data for campaign planning and execution directly on the platform. A key feature is Supply Path Optimization (SPO), which, combined with programmatic and Connected TV (CTV)/Over-the-Top (OTT) capabilities, creates a more direct and efficient supply chain. This structure provides both buyers and sellers with tools for forecasting, planning, and negotiating campaigns across guaranteed, private, and open marketplaces, with a focus on privacy compliance (GDPR, CCPA). The platform also offers a Programmatic + Push Notification solution, creating an additional revenue stream for publishers by converting site visitors into subscribers.