Lancaster advertising software outfit lands six-figure investment

Lancaster-based advertising platform, Azullo has secured a six-figure investment from Lancashire’s Rosebud Fund to develop its ‘Respond’ platform which rivals Google Adsense.

It follows recent investment from The North West Fund for Digital & Creative and private investors and will motor the service which supports ‘native advertising’ and helps to ad effectiveness by solving the problem of “banner blindness” - when users ignore ad banners.

The investment was administered by Enterprise Venutes who manage the Rosebud Fund on behalf of Lancashire County Developments Ltd.

Paul Taberner of Enterprise Ventures, which manages the Rosebud Fund, said: “Major online publishers are looking for ways to increase their advertising revenue whilst recognising that their readers are becoming more discerning in the way theyview online content.

“Respond helps them do this and offers a better advertising solution for all concerned - for publishers, advertisers and for consumers who are tired of having their browsing interrupted by intrusive adverts. It has the potential to become the platform of choice for the online publishing market.”

County Councillor Niki Penney, chair of LCDL, said: “There’s a great deal of potential in Lancashire’s creative and digital sector. We want to support growth and open up new opportunities to realise this potential - it’s one of our key economic development priorities.

“Companies like Azullo are using technology in new and innovative ways. They’ve already been very successful and we’re pleased to be supporting them in the next stages of their future development.”