{"recordId":"st_o6m1wf7po0nnmo4p","canonicalUrl":"https://sotwire.com/stories/kevel-raises-52-million-commerce-media-durham","jsonUrl":"https://sotwire.com/stories/kevel-raises-52-million-commerce-media-durham/record","slug":"kevel-raises-52-million-commerce-media-durham","headline":"Kevel raises $52 million, its largest round yet","dek":"The Durham ad tech company says the money will go to AI decisioning tools, global expansion and advisory services.","articleBody":"Kevel, a Durham company that builds ad technology for retailers and marketplaces running their own media networks, announced $52 million in new capital on Oct. 21, 2026. The company called it the largest raise in its history and said its total funding now tops $100 million.\n\nThe round includes expanded investments from Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures and Iberis Capital, plus growth capital from ORIX USA's Growth Capital business, according to the release. Cafferty & Company was Kevel's sole advisor on the deal.\n\nKevel says it will use the money to keep building AI decisioning and optimization features that retailers can inspect and configure, to expand into new retail and commerce media categories worldwide, and to grow its advisory services. Founder and CEO James Avery told AdExchanger the company may also use some of the funds for acquisitions.\n\n\"This raise enables us to scale the technology retailers and marketplaces need to build differentiated media networks,\" Avery said in the release.\n\nThe company says more than 100 commerce media networks use its platform, naming Tesco, Dollar General Media Networks, John Lewis Partnership, PayPal, Scandinavian Airlines, Home Depot's Orange Apron Media and Nubank.","category":"funding","categoryLabel":"Funding","location":"Durham, NC","company":{"name":"Kevel","domain":"kevel.com"},"sample":false,"sampleDisclaimer":null,"publishedAt":"2026-10-23T22:30:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-23T22:30:00.000Z","badge":"Desk reported","trust":{"level":"desk_reported","doctrine":"Sotwire verifies who at the company stood behind the submission. It does not independently certify every underlying company claim as true.","verifies":"which named Sotwire editor wrote this from the cited sources","doesNotCertify":"independent truth of every claim","badge":"Desk reported","verificationMethod":"Named Sotwire editor, from the cited sources. Not a company attestation, and not an independent fact-check of every sentence.","domainChecked":false},"attestation":{"attested":false},"confirmation":null,"facts":[{"label":"Amount","value":"$52 million"},{"label":"Announced","value":"Oct. 21, 2026"},{"label":"Investors","value":"Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures, Iberis Capital, ORIX USA Growth Capital"},{"label":"Total raised","value":"More than $100 million, per the company"},{"label":"Advisor","value":"Cafferty & Company"},{"label":"Founder and CEO","value":"James Avery"},{"label":"Round","value":"Series D, per AdExchanger"}],"keyEvents":[{"date":"2026-10-21","label":"Kevel announced $52 million in new capital"}],"sources":[{"url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/21/3385662/0/en/kevel-secures-52-million-to-scale-ai-driven-infrastructure-for-the-future-of-commerce-media.html","title":"Kevel Secures $52 Million to Scale AI-Driven Infrastructure for the Future of Commerce Media","publisher":"Kevel via GlobeNewswire"},{"url":"https://www.orix.com/deals/orix-usas-growth-capital-business-invests-in-kevel/","title":"ORIX USA's Growth Capital Business Invests in Kevel","publisher":"ORIX USA"},{"url":"https://www.adexchanger.com/commerce/retail-media-platform-kevel-raises-52-million-with-ma-on-the-brain/","title":"Retail Media Platform Kevel Raises $52 Million With M&A On The Brain","publisher":"AdExchanger"}],"source":{"url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/21/3385662/0/en/kevel-secures-52-million-to-scale-ai-driven-infrastructure-for-the-future-of-commerce-media.html","publisher":"Kevel","publishedAt":"2026-10-21T14:00:00.000Z"},"cover":{"url":"https://sotwire.com/covers/kevel-raises-52-million-commerce-media-durham.webp","alt":"Kevel raises $52 million, its largest round yet","provenance":"unknown","provenanceLabel":"Unknown origin","credit":null},"images":[],"provenanceMethod":"EXIF, XMP, and filename heuristic. Not C2PA cryptographic proof, and not a judgment that the depicted event is true.","provenanceDisclaimer":"v1 labels are heuristic (EXIF, XMP, filename), not cryptographic C2PA proof. Treat them as disclosure of observed metadata, not a guarantee that the image is genuine or that the depicted event is true.","citation":"Sotwire Desk, Kevel. \"Kevel raises $52 million, its largest round yet.\" Sotwire, October 23, 2026, https://sotwire.com/stories/kevel-raises-52-million-commerce-media-durham. Record ID: st_o6m1wf7po0nnmo4p. Desk reported.","sampleLabel":null,"correctionStatus":"No public corrections recorded","integrity":{"algorithm":"sha-256","hex":"d9504377977c7f65aff0dcb59e3eac4da2811dd65e9df1306ebe7eafa45fa10a","contentDigest":"sha-256=:2VBDd5d8f2Wv8Ny1nj6sTaKBHdZenfEwbr5+r6RfoQo=:","scope":"Canonical JSON record excluding the integrity object"}}