Cooler Screens, the world’s first and largest in-store digital media platform, today announced the close of an over $80 million Series C funding round from Verizon Ventures, Microsoft’s venture fund M12, GreatPoint Ventures, and a number of other preeminent strategic and financial investors to drive company growth and national expansion. Silicon Valley Bank also participated in the round by providing debt financing.
Since its founding in 2018, Cooler Screens has raised over $100M in the capital, valuing the company at over half a billion dollars. The most recent funding will advance Cooler Screens’ rollouts at several leading retailers, Privacy by Design initiatives, and the development of its unique technology platform including its contextual advertising and digital merchandising capabilities.
“We’ve been in stealth mode since inception — learning, innovating, and developing our platform to ensure we are effectively winning with consumers, brands, and retailers,” said Cooler Screens CEO and Co-Founder Arsen Avakian. “These partnerships provide not only capabilities and confidence throughout the ecosystem but also immediate access to massive consumer audiences and a new digital media marketplace for top consumer brands.”
Earlier this year, Cooler Screens announced Walgreens will expand its platform into 2,500 stores across the U.S. The expansion, which is the largest installation of Cooler Screens’ technology thus far, is expected to reach over 75 million consumers monthly, including 2.5 million in-store consumers on a daily basis at Walgreens alone. Cooler Screens is also working with a number of leaders in the grocery and convenience store industry, including Kroger and GetGo, to bring a digitally enhanced shopping experience to the cooler aisle.
To deliver this pioneering platform, Cooler Screens has established strategic partnerships with leading technology providers while also developing significant proprietary technology of its own. The integration of Cooler Screen’s innovation with core technologies from global leaders like Microsoft and Verizon has resulted in a unique and highly differentiated platform like no other in the market, captivating consumer audiences at the point-of-sale and enabling over 100 CPG brands to connect with shoppers at the new ‘last mile’ of advertising.
“Cooler Screens’ retail solution will offer consumers and brands new ways to interact, leveraging innovative cooler doors connected to Verizon’s low latency and high bandwidth wireless network,” said Christopher Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Head of Verizon Ventures. “We are excited to support the team at Cooler Screens as they usher in a new era of digital retail.”
“Cooler Screens’ platform was founded on the core idea that bringing the power of digital to brick-and-mortar retail has the potential to fundamentally change the consumer experience for the better,” said Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president and global head of M12. “We’re thrilled to continue to support and partner with an exceptional leadership team that’s decidedly reimagining the retail product discovery experience.”
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