Gravity4
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | July 17, 2014 in San Francisco, United States |
Key people | Gurbaksh Chahal (Founder, CEO) |
Number of employees | 400 |
| Website |
gravity4 |
Gravity4 is an online advertising technology company based in San Francisco.[1] The company operates with over 400 employees and has offices in New York, Chicago, Norway, Finland, Ireland, Brazil, China, Denmark, Canada, Romania, Australia, Columbia, Bermuda, Turkey, Spain, and Sweden.[1] It also holds one of eight direct seats on Facebook's Ad Exchange.[2] Gravity4's technology facilitates the purchase of online advertising.[3]
Background
Gravity4 was founded in July 2014 by Gurbaksh Chahal.[4] Prior to founding Gravity4, Chahal founded internet advertising companies ClickAgents and BlueLithium.[1] He also founded RadiumOne, an advertising platform established in 2009.[4] Since its founding, the Gravity4 acquired other companies, including Conyak, Exovue, Triggit, Pixels, Zurmo, Argyle Social, Kanary NEST, EZlike, and adX Search.[5][6][2][7][8]
Gravity4 also placed a $350 million unsolicited bid to buy Rocket Fuel Inc., a publicly traded programmatic media-buying platform in May 2015.[9]
Operations
Gravity4 marketing software enables advertisers to handle programmatic and real-time bid advertising as well as analyze data.[10] The company uses data management software and programmatic ad buying technologies as tools to create an ad buying stack.[1] Advertising purchases include selling, reporting, measurement, inventory management and billing.[11]
Gender discrimination, illegal surveillance lawsuit
In May 2015, Erika Alonso, a former senior vice president at Gravity4, sued the company, claiming that she was harassed, discriminated against because of her age and gender, and secretly and illegally spied on during her time with the company. The lawsuit alleges that Alsonso, during her job interview, was grilled about her thoughts on Gurbaksh Chahal’s criminal history as a domestic violence abuser, and that the conference room where the interview took place was bugged with cameras and microphones so that Chahal could watch the interview.[12]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Jack Marshall (July 21, 2014). "Fired RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal Returns With New Ad Tech Venture". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- 1 2 Zach Rodgers (March 20, 2015). "Distressed Triggit Scooped Up By Gravity4, Gurbaksh Chahal's Merger Machine". Ad Exchanger. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Lakshmi Sankaran (July 25, 2015). "I’ve overcome dark days with focus and ambition, says American Indian tech entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal". The Economic Times. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- 1 2 J Jennings Moss (July 22, 2014). "Abuse charges over, Gurbaksh Chahal launches new startup and makes peace with old one". Upstart Business Journal. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Anthony Ha (January 25, 2015). "Ousted Founder Gurbaksh Chahal Raises His Offer To Acquire RadiumOne". Tech Crunch. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Ginny Marvin (March 20, 2015). "Gravity4 Buys Native Retargeting Firm Triggit". Marketing Land. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ "Gravity4 Acquires Facebook Marketing Partner Ezlike". JOSIC. April 3, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Tyler Loechner (April 3, 2015). "Gravity4 Buys Ezlike, Another Facebook Marketing Partner". Media Post. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Tyler Loechner (May 7, 2015). "Gravity4 Bids $350 Million To Buy Ad Tech Firm Rocket Fuel". Media Post. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Josh Constine (July 21, 2014). "RadiumOne Issues Not-Quite-Apology For Ousting CEO Who Pled Guilty To Domestic Violence". Tech Crunch. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Rebecca Lieb (April 9, 2012). "Your Marketing Machine: What You Need to Know About Ad Tech 'Stacks". AdAge. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ↑ Huet, Ellen (April 21, 2015) "Gurbaksh Chahal And Gravity4 Hit With Gender Discrimination, Illegal Surveillance Lawsuit." Forbes. (Retrieved 5-26-2015.)