Media baron Antony Catalano and Seek’s Matt Rockman back ads startup’s $5 million Seed raise

An advertising analytics startup offering a solution to the end of internet cookies to track marketing has raised $5 million in Seed funding

The round for Prophet was backed by Australian Community Media owner Antony Catalano, Seek cofounder Matt Rockman and Cheuk Chiang APAC CEO of Dentsu Creative, among others.

The business intelligence platform has been in development for three years and claims it can save a company up to 50% of its current marketing spend by taking historical data and predicting future outcomes for it.

Prophet CEO Jordan Taylor-Bartel said most marketing spend decisions are based on data that’s at least 3-months-old.

“We’ve packaged the world’s most sophisticated mathematics and data analysis into a living, breathing platform that any brand decision-maker can use to optimise every brand dollar, without having to be tech-savvy,” he said

“Our testing to date has demonstrated Prophet can save businesses anywhere from 10 to 50% on marketing and ad spend by accurately demonstrating what’s working, and where budgets should be diverted for maximum impact.”

He cofounded the startup in 2020 with ad industry veteran Sean Taylor, mathematician Patrick Robotham, statistician John Strumila and developer Clyde So.

Taylor-Bartels said Google’s 2024 sunsetting of third-party cookies has made it much harder to measure return on investment.

“Meanwhile, marketers are using market-mix-modelling tech based on the same mathematical models used to predict the weather,” he said.

“Prophet gives them the ability to unearth subtle trends that previously would have been missed.”

Investor Antony Catalano, who also cofounded ANZ-backed real estate play View Media Group with Alex Waislitz, said Prophet is more “a whole new game” than game-changer.

“I’ve seen a number of tech innovations over the past two decades and our operations through our own national media group demonstrates more than ever the importance of media, marketing and organisational accountability and measurement. Prophet is on a whole new level,” he said.