7 innovative DOOH startups to watch in 2024 and beyond

Look on any busy city street, and chances are you’ve seen one of the latest advertising trends–a digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad. 

Whether digital billboards, street furniture like bus stops, or digital ads on (or in) public transportation, eye-catching DOOH ads are making big waves within a burgeoning industry.

Xenoss engineers have ample experience building software for programmatic DOOH adoption. We carefully watch emerging trends and follow rapidly growing projects to support AdTech teams in creating pDOOH products that push the envelope and meet user expectations. 

In this post, we will examine:

• The rapid growth of the DOOH market
• Seven of the fastest-growing DOOH companies in 2024
• How DOOH advertising companies are innovating the future of DOOH

Digital out-of-home market overview

Digital out-of-home advertising is poised for transformative growth, carving out a significant share of the advertising market. 

DOOH has bounced back extraordinarily well after the impact of the pandemic. Global ad spend in the DOOH sector is forecast to hit $17.28 billion in 2024, with a steady climb projected at 7.77% CAGR to reach $24.12 billion by 2029.

DOOH ad spend grew by 19.1% in the US to reach $4.3 billion. DOOH will represent nearly $4.7 billion of the total OOH ad spend this year, making up 44.8% of the market. By 2028, that number is expected to rise to almost half of all US OOH ad spend, reaching $5.88 billion. 

According to Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA), the leading association in the out-of-home industry, OOH ad revenue in the US surged by 6.8% to $1.94 billion in the first quarter of 2024 alone, setting a record for the highest Q1 volume ever.

In the UK, DOOH is predicted to capture a staggering 75% of the total OOH market by 2027, helping OOH avoid the declines of other traditional media.

With research finding that two-thirds of viewers take action after seeing a digital street-level ad, it’s clear that DOOH is not just prolific–it’s also powerful.

As more advertisers flock to engaged out-of-home audiences, AdTech product teams seize the opportunity to support brands and DOOH publishers with programmatic campaign management, brand verification, personalized targeting, and other capabilities.

It was inspiring to see that, despite the pandemic-driven decrease in foot traffic, a wave of new digital out-of-home AdTech companies powered by game-changing technologies and capabilities hit the market. 

Top 7 fast-growing DOOH advertising companies to watch in 2024

Though well-positioned market leaders (JCDecaux, Outfront Media, Lamar Advertising) are the key drivers of the ecosystem’s stable growth, new market entrants are also pivotal to the rising popularity of DOOH. 

Emerging startups are heavily rooted in innovation and committed to building on-the-rise technologies like computer vision, advanced analytics, or ML-enabled predictions into DOOH platforms.

Drawing upon our knowledge of the market landscape, we created a list of some rapidly growing DOOH advertising companies whose technology is pushing a paradigm shift in targeting, measurement, ad verification, or streamlining media buying.

The teams included in our list have key common features. 

• They are innovative. DOOH advertising companies on the list offer unique AdTech capabilities or implement paradigm-shifting technologies. 

• They are active in the AdTech community. The startups we featured actively contribute to the industry through frequent updates, impactful partnerships, and attendance at industry events. 

• They are the focus of VC attention. Featured startups have raised VC funding and are actively gaining market traction. 

We are excited to follow the journey of these DOOH advertising companies for the rest of the year and beyond. 

Let’s take a closer look at each one. 

1. OneScreen.ai

Founded: 2020

Raised funding: $9.4 million

Key investors: TechFarms Capital, TechStars, Asymmetric Capital Partners

OneScreen.ai is a leading platform in the digital out-of-home advertising space, offering a comprehensive marketplace and suite of tools to simplify the buying, selling, and management of DOOH ads across various formats, from digital billboards to blimps.

Under the leadership of CEO Alex Ewing, a Harvard graduate with experience as COO of LiquiGlide and as a patent litigator, OneScreen.ai has made huge strides, including raising $4.7 million in their latest funding round in May 2024.

In 2022, the company launched its searchable directory with over 864,000 listings, making OOH advertising more accessible to buyers. 

Two years later, OneScreen.ai brought startup ads for fintech Ramp and technical recruiter Karat to billboards and New York’s subway system. This was a step towards OneScreen.ai’s goal to build the most open, integrated, cooperative infrastructure in OOH.

“I think billboards are cool and help bring creativity back into marketing,” Ewing said in one interview. “They are like canvases for marketers in a way a digital screen isn’t.”

2. Screenverse

Founded: 2020

Raised funding: $10.5 million

Key investors: Volition Capital 

Managing and monetizing digital screen networks, Screenverse bridges the gap between screen networks and advertisers. 

It brings its expertise and technology to unlock the full potential of DOOH advertising, helping network owners maximize their digital out-of-home advertising revenue and optimize their digital assets.

With over 90,000 digital screens across the US, Screenverse supports programmatic ad monetization to help media owners and advertisers adopt programmatic DOOH to solve industry challenges.

The company was founded in 2020 by CEO David Weinfeld and President Adam Malone, who collectively bring 13 years of experience in digital signage and OOH media. The company went on to raise $10.5 million from a single investor during its Series A funding round, with the aim of expanding its digital out-of-home programmatic advertising to smaller networks. 

3. Veridooh

Founded: 2017

Raised funding: $5 million

Key investors: Saniel Ventures, Gravel Road Ventures, Jelix Ventures, EVP

Veridooh is an Australian adtech startup that provides independent verification and measurement solutions for DOOH advertising, such as its SmartCreative™ technology. Its platform tracks, measures, and verifies the performance of DOOH campaigns, giving advertisers transparency, accuracy, and accountability through more reliable data. 

Veridooh is no stranger to awards–in 2023, its co-founder and product lead Jeremy Yang was featured in Campaign’s ‘40 Under 40’ list, and the company also won Campaign’s Tech MVP (Most Valuable Product) award. The same year, Veridooh secured a $5 million investment from Aconex co-founders Leigh Jasper and Rob Phillpot, among others.

Today, Veridooh continues to expand its verification solutions around the world, partnering with major firms like JCDecaux New Zealand and Howatson + Company.

4. AdQuick

Founded: 2016

Raised funding: $9.2 million

Key investors: Team Ignite Ventures, Initialized Capital, Alexis Ohanian, Eudemian Ventures 

Founded in 2016 in Los Angeles, AdQuick is a leading platform for planning, booking, and measuring OOH advertising, including DOOH. Aiming to make OOH advertising as accessible and efficient as possible for advertisers, AdQuick offers tools for advertisers to easily plan, execute, and optimize their campaigns.

AdQuick was co-founded by Matthew Morrison O’Connor, formerly Senior Program Manager at Amazon, and Connor Burden, formerly Operations Manager at Breeze. In 2017, the company raised $1.1 million, followed by $6 million in a Series A funding round in February 2020, including investors like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

AdQuick isn’t one to shirk innovation. In 2020, it launched a self-serve ad platform for OOH advertising, and in 2022, it became one of the first companies in the advertising industry to accept cryptocurrency as payment for OOH campaigns.

Last year, AdQuick integrated with both Lamar and AppsFlyer to enhance its programmatic DOOH offerings, and continues to innovate with its self-service tools for programmatic OOH advertising.

5. HYGH

Founded: 2018

Raised funding: €31.5 million

Key investors: 10x Value Capital, Almora Capital, Sparta Capital 

Switzerland-based HYGH is a dynamic platform for DOOH advertising, offering seamless and accessible ways to book ad campaigns across Europe’s fastest-growing marketplace of digital screens.

Its user-friendly self-serve platform connects advertisers with screen owners to democratize the DOOH advertising space with blockchain technology, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.

HYGH’s innovative approach to blockchain technology meant the company was recognized as the 2018 ICO of the Year in London, also winning the Best ICO Pitch at the Blockchain Life Conference in St. Petersburg for disrupting the $600 billion advertising industry.

The company raised €21.5 million in a 2023 hybrid financing round, with its rapid growth matched only by the ambition of its expansion plans. 

“HYGH has the potential to become one of the global market leaders,” HYGH’s co-founder and chairman, Fritz Frey, said in one interview. “The strong growth of DOOH advertising and the opportunities it presents support our investors’ confidence in our company and our vision.”

6. Vistar Media

Founded: 2012

Raised funding: $2.8 million

Key investors: Valhalla Partners, Mercury, Basset Investment Group, Eniac Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners 

Vistar Media is a leading programmatic platform for DOOH advertising, transforming movement data into actionable insights about consumer behavior. The platform connects advertisers with DOOH media owners, automating ad space buying and selling across a vast network of digital screens.

The company’s strategic acquisitions, including Sage + Archer in May 2022 and ADstruc in April 2024, have bolstered its worldwide DOOH planning and buying capabilities. 

2024 has been a very strong year for Vistar Media so far, partnering with Lamar Advertising to power its US DOOH billboard network and expanding its programmatic DOOH offering into Latin America with PRODOOH.

The company’s growth in 2024 included a 77% year-on-year increase in campaign billings, with a 31% rise in new advertisers, earning Vistar Media recognition on AdExchanger’s 2024 Top 50 Programmatic Power Players List.

7. Doohly

Founded: 2020

Raised funding: A$650K

Key investors: Archangel Ventures

Australia-based Doohly is a cloud-based digital signage solution company that connects brands with targeted audiences through scalable DOOH advertising. 

Doohly specializes in programmatic digital out-of-home, advanced targeting, and performance measurement, offering management software for advertisers to efficiently plan, execute, and optimize their DOOH campaigns across various digital screens.

In 2022, Doohly partnered with Lumo to launch an independent, market-first programmatic DOOH solution, streamlining the buying experience for advertisers.

A 2023 partnership with HYPER, a DOOH retail media provider in New Zealand, integrated Doohly’s content management system with HYPER’s technology across over 500 retail locations.

Most recently, in April 2024, Doohly secured $500,000 in pre-seed funding to accelerate its digital ad execution. This has aided Doohly in establishing itself as a rapidly growing company, delivering significant savings and increased ROI for clients in six countries to date.

Where is DOOH heading in 2024 and beyond?

The future of DOOH advertising companies is bright, with ongoing innovation driving the sector’s rapid growth. As technology advances, digital displays are set to become more dynamic and interactive, making DOOH a key player in the advertising landscape.

At the forefront of technological innovation, programmatic advertising will be pivotal to DOOH’s continued success. It will allow brands to use data for precise, targeted messaging that engages consumers on the go. As DOOH increasingly integrates with online and mobile platforms, it will become essential to multi-channel marketing strategies, enhancing brand visibility and creating more cohesive campaigns. 

With consumers drawn to digital content, DOOH is well-positioned to capture attention in public spaces, making it the future of OOH advertising.