AdRoll Inc.

Overview

AdRoll operates as an e-commerce marketing and connected advertising platform, providing solutions for personalized advertising to brands and agencies [1]. Its core offering is a performance marketing platform that uses a large advertiser data co-op to help businesses retarget website visitors and acquire new customers across digital channels including the web, social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), and email [4]. The platform employs artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable predictive buying, lookalike audience targeting, and dynamic ads [4]. A subscription-based SaaS model underpins its business, with revenue generated through commissions and subscriptions [4]. As of August 2025, the parent company rebranded its product line so that the former RollWorks ABM product is now marketed as AdRoll ABM, consolidating both DTC and B2B offerings under the single AdRoll brand [22]. The company addresses industries including ecommerce, technology, financial services, and education [5].

History

AdRoll was founded in 2006 by Aaron Bell, Jared Kopf, and Adam Berke, originally incorporated as Semantic Sugar, Inc. [4]. The founding was inspired by Bell's difficulty purchasing online display ads for a small business, which revealed the barriers facing emerging companies in the ad space [4]. The company pivoted toward retargeting, and by 2012 had raised $15 million from Foundation Capital, Accel Partners, and Merus Capital [2]. In January 2014, AdRoll acquired userfox, a Y Combinator-backed email retention startup, expanding its data collection capabilities [53]. That same month, the company raised a $70 million Series C round led by Accel Partners, with additional participation from Foundation Capital, Northgate Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, Merus Capital, Performance Equity Management, and Glenmede Investment Management, bringing total funding to approximately $89.6 million [7]. In November 2018, AdRoll Group acquired Growlabs, a B2B lead generation and sales automation startup with a database of 12 million companies and 320 million business identities, to bolster the B2B-focused RollWorks unit [51][52]. In September 2019, the parent company officially rebranded from AdRoll Group to NextRoll, Inc., launching a three-unit structure comprising AdRoll, RollWorks, and NextRoll Platform Services [27]. Toby Gabriner, who became CEO in November 2017, led the rebrand [21]. In August 2025, NextRoll consolidated its product line by folding RollWorks into a unified AdRoll platform under the AdRoll ABM label [22][26].

Market Position

AdRoll operates primarily in the retargeting, display advertising, cross-channel advertising, and account-based marketing software categories [38]. The platform is positioned toward small and mid-sized businesses and DTC ecommerce brands, with a reported user base spanning over 15,000 brands and integrations across Shopify, WooCommerce, HubSpot, and Magento [34]. In G2's Summer 2025 Grid Reports, AdRoll received leader badges across multiple digital advertising categories including Retargeting Software, Native Advertising, Display Advertising, Cross-Channel Advertising, Mobile Advertising, and Video Advertising [46]. In G2's Fall 2025 reports, AdRoll ABM received leader recognition in the Mid-Market Account-Based Advertising, Account-Based Orchestration Platforms, Cross-Channel Advertising, Marketing Account Intelligence, Retargeting, and Display Advertising categories [44]. Published case studies on the platform's site reference customers including Snowflake and PitchBook for B2B ABM use cases, and Dermalogica for DTC ecommerce [22]. The company is a member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and complies with the Digital Advertising Alliance's (DAA) App Choices programs [27].

Competition

AdRoll's primary named competitor in the retargeting space is Criteo, a publicly traded commerce media platform [14][36]. Third-party analyses characterize AdRoll as oriented toward accessibility and broad channel reach—spanning display, social, email, mobile, and some video—while Criteo focuses on commerce data and product-level personalization via its proprietary Shopper Graph [34]. AdRoll's self-serve model contrasts with Criteo's historically managed-service orientation, which some mid-market brands have experienced as adding an extra layer of orchestration and opacity [37]. On pricing, AdRoll offers flexible subscription plans with no minimum spend requirement, whereas Criteo has historically required minimum monthly ad spend [36]. G2 reviewers note that AdRoll scores higher than Criteo in A/B testing and audience segmentation, while Criteo's dynamic catalog feature is praised for product-level retargeting [38]. Owler also lists Perfect Audience and AppNexus among AdRoll's primary competitors [14]. AdRoll's TechCrunch-documented strategic positioning since at least 2014 has been to package retargeting technology accessibly for small and medium businesses, differentiating it from Criteo's enterprise and large-retailer focus [3].

Sources

1. AdRoll - 2026 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors — Tracxn, 2026
2. AdRoll | Company Overview & News — Forbes
3. AdRoll Raises $70M Led By Foundation As Ad Tech And Retargeting Hit The Big Time — TechCrunch, 2014-04-21
4. AdRoll company information, funding & investors — Dealroom
5. AdRoll - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding — Crunchbase
6. Retargeting Firm AdRoll Plots Its Evolution — AdExchanger, 2012-07-24
7. AdRoll Funding: How Much Did They Raise & Key Investors — ZoomInfo
8. NextRoll - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding — Crunchbase
9. AdRoll: Revenue, Competitors, Alternatives — Growjo
10. AdRoll Group becomes NextRoll and launches new platform services business — TechCrunch, 2019-09-10
11. Companies Using AdRoll in 2026 — TechnologyChecker, 2026-05-18
12. AdRoll Group Rebrands as NextRoll, Launches Marketing Platform Services — AdRoll (via DestinationCRM), 2019-09-10
13. AdRoll Group Rebrands To NextRoll And Marches Toward Mar Tech — AdExchanger, 2019-09-10
14. AdRoll Group Rebrands as NextRoll, Launches Marketing Platform Services — Business Wire, 2019-09-10
15. AdRoll vs. Criteo: Which Performance Advertising Platform Should You Choose in 2026? — Adlib, 2026-04-05
16. Compare AdRoll vs. Criteo Commerce Growth — G2
17. AdRoll's Competitors, Revenue, Number of Employees, Funding, Acquisitions & News — Owler
18. AdRoll expands its B2B data and tech by acquiring Growlabs — TechCrunch, 2018-11-08
19. AdRoll Group Acquires Growlabs to Amplify RollWorks Business Unit — GlobeNewswire, 2018-11-08
20. AdRoll Announces Acquisition of Y Combinator Graduate userfox — PR Newswire, 2014-01-23
21. AdRoll Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features — G2, 2026
22. AdRoll Pricing 2026 — G2, 2025-10-03
23. AdRoll 2024 Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons — TrustRadius, 2024
24. AdRoll vs Criteo in 2026: Attribution, Margins, and the Decision Most Teams Get Wrong — Spike, 2026-06-07