Kevel raises $52 million to develop explainable AI for retail advertising

Kevel announced $52 million in new capital on October 21, 2026, to develop AI advertising tools that retailers can inspect and control. Its largest financing to date will also support global expansion and advisory services, while CEO James Avery says some of the money could fund acquisitions in neighboring parts of the retail advertising business.

The financing includes expanded strategic investments from Fulcrum Equity Partners, dunnhumby Ventures and Iberis Capital, plus growth capital from ORIX USA’s Growth Capital business. Kevel says the transaction brings its total capital raised to more than $100 million. AdExchanger described the financing as a Series D.

Kevel supplies infrastructure that retailers, marketplaces and other commerce businesses use to build their own advertising networks. Its software connects through application programming interfaces, or APIs, letting customers build around their own data and business goals. The company says it serves more than 100 commerce media networks, with customers including Tesco, Dollar General Media Networks and Home Depot’s Orange Apron Media.

Opening up the ad decision

The AI work concerns how ads are ranked, bids are evaluated and placements are chosen. Kevel says the funding will support further development of decision-making and optimization tools, with the goal of making every such decision explainable, auditable and adjustable by retailers. That is a development roadmap attached to the financing, rather than a separate product launch.

In an interview with AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff, Avery described the approach as a form of forensic science. Retailers should be able to look back through an advertising auction, understand what happened and diagnose disappointing results. He identified several questions that the system should help answer:

• Which ads competed in the auction?
• What influenced the bid prices and the final decision?
• What could the retailer change if the results were poor?

Acquisitions, but not at any price

Beyond product development, Avery told AdExchanger that Kevel may spend some of the capital on acquisitions. He pointed to the number of retail advertising vendors selling to the same customers as a reason to expect consolidation. Potential targets could include businesses in adjacent areas—technology providers that retailers already use alongside Kevel.

He did not identify acquisition targets and suggested there was no need to rush. Some prices were attractive while others remained high, he said, adding that valuations depended partly on whether a company had AI in its name or an AI story to sell. Waiting could produce better deals, in his view.

Kevel’s stated expansion plans also extend beyond buying companies. It intends to enter new retail and commerce media categories globally and deepen its strategic advisory services. Those services are meant to help retailers at different stages of building their advertising businesses adopt AI without losing visibility into how it operates.

The spending plans come as Kevel approaches a financial milestone, according to its CEO. Avery said the company was close to profitable and expected to reach profitability by the end of 2026. That remains a forecast, alongside the company’s plans for further AI development and expansion.