Martin Sorrell says ID5 can be the “winning formula” to a cookie-less future

Martin Sorrell is one of the latest investors to support ID5, a cookie-less solutions provider, with the venture capital firm that he co-founded, S4S Ventures. 

ID5 was created in 2017 by adtech professionals with the goal to help publishers grow sustainable revenue in a post-cookie world with a transparent, scalable, and privacy-compliant identity infrastructure.

According to Sorrell, ID5’s “innovative technology” will allow advertising to be more targeted while respecting customers’ privacy and preferences which in return will bring brands more value. 

Sorell said: “The data landscape has shifted hugely with the slow death of cookies, and ID5 has emerged from the disruption with a winning formula to enable brands to amplify the value of their data.

“It draws on European roots and GDPR experience to offer a more sophisticated approach to data privacy, while helping brands get maximum return on their advertising investments.”

Current investors include Progress Ventures, Seventure Partners, 360 Capital Partners, Axio, Aperiam Ventures, and most recently—S4S Ventures and information and insights company TransUnion. Together, the companies invested $20 million in ID5’s Series B funding round. 

Additionally, S4S Ventures’ Co-founder and Managing Partner and TransUnion’s EVP and Head of TruAudience marketing solutions Michael Schoen will join ID5’s board of directors. 

Shoen said: “As an early investor and continued supporter, TransUnion sees significant value in ID5's approach—validated by both buy and sell side adoption.”

“ID5’s identifier, integrated with TransUnion’s identity and addressability solution, is a powerful combination for reaching authenticated and unauthenticated audiences and provides marketers with a much-needed solution in the post-cookie world for effective activation and measurement.” 

Sanja Partalo, co-founder and managing partner of S4S Ventures, added: “ID5 has built a scalable and efficient identity solution to support digital advertising in a post-cookie world.”

“Their focus and ability to execute have enabled them to reach the highest level of adoption in the market. We are delighted to support them as they continue to innovate and shape the future of digital advertising.”

Since ID5’s launch, almost 50% of online advertising transactions are now supported by the company’s solution—according to the release - and its technology has been adopted by “thousands” of publishers, advertisers, and ad tech platforms including Havas Media, New York Post, M6 Publicité, and more. 

Mathieu Roche, CEO and co-founder of ID5, said: “ID5 has been receiving unprecedented levels of support from investors and interest from partners.”

“This investment from strategic players such as TransUnion and S4S Ventures, in such a pivotal year for our industry, further strengthens our position as the leading identity solution and demonstrates trust in our ability to provide our partners with best in class technology to support addressable and measurable advertising.”

A potential $200 million cookie-shaped black hole in ad revenue 

Cookie deprecation is expected to cause major disruption in the economy—according to a survey from Deloitte Digital—with companies projected to experience potential losses from $91 million to $203 million in revenue per year. 

Since Google announced the depreciation of cookies in 2019, the advertising industry has been adopting more privacy-conscious alternatives as an alternative, such as ID5.

Companies have also started looking at how to gather their own first-party data as a solution. According to a research by customer data platform BlueConic, 78% of senior revenue leaders surveyed said that they have already created or are planning to create their own first-party data asset with a customer data platform.

Additionally, 66% are investing in alternative identity providers including ID5 (21%), LiveRamp (55%), and The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 (32%).