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§ Private Profile · 95 Morton Street New York, New York 10014 United States
Adtech company providing programmatic advertising transparency solutions, helping advertisers track media spend and optimize supply paths.
Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Amino Payments was an advertising technology company that provided transparency solutions and supply path optimization tools for programmatic digital ad spending. The business-to-business software platform allowed advertisers to track media transactions, eliminate fraud, and understand exactly how much of their budget reached publishers versus being absorbed by intermediaries. Prior to its exit, the startup operated with 13 employees and raised approximately $8 million in total venture funding from backers including First Round Capital and You & Mr Jones Brandtech Ventures. The company served major corporate customers such as AT&T and Bayer before being acquired by digital media quality firm Integral Ad Science in January 2021, which subsequently integrated the technology into its own product suite. Amino Payments was founded in 2017 by Will Luttrell, David Bookspan, Chris Chapman, and Richard Rabbat.
Amino Payments has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round.
Amino Payments has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Amino Payments has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $5.0M Seed in February 2018.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2018 | $5M Seed | Josh Kopelman | Altair Capital Management, Amino Capital, Flashpoint VC, Flex Capital, Inovia Capital, Journey Ventures, Locus Ventures, Matrix Capital, TLV Partners, Bobby Goodlatte, SUE XU, Auren Hoffman, TOD Sacerdoti, Nyca Partners, Tessera Venture Partners, David Jones | Announced |
Amino Payments is a blockchain-based adtech company that builds a payments platform combining blockchain, payments, and advertising technologies to deliver transparency in online and programmatic advertising transactions.[1][2] It serves advertisers, marketers, and publishers by solving the opacity in automated digital ad-buying, analyzing and validating ad impressions to ensure efficient, accountable media transactions and prevent wasted spend.[2][3][5] Founded in 2016 as Curren-C and later rebranded, Amino gained early momentum with media coverage in outlets like *The Wall Street Journal*, *TechCrunch*, and *AdWeek*, a $4.5 million second funding round, hires in Philadelphia, and a New York office expansion within its first year.[4] Its technology powered solutions like Total Visibility, launched with Integral Ad Science (IAS) in 2020, amid rising programmatic ad spend projected at $79.61 billion in the US for 2021.[3]
Amino Payments, originally launched as Curren-C in 2016, was co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Will Luttrell (cofounder of Integral Ad Science), David Bookspan (cofounder of Monetate, DreamIt Ventures, and MarketSpan, Inc.), and Chris Chapman (cofounder of Sailthru and SafeRoute).[2] The idea emerged from the founders' deep adtech experience, targeting the "incredibly complex and opaque world of automated digital ad-buying" with blockchain for transparency and accountability.[4] Early traction was rapid: within the first year, agency Grimm & Grove secured placements in *The Wall Street Journal*, *Business Insider*, *TechCrunch*, *Digiday*, and *AdWeek*, plus local Philadelphia coverage, earning it Technical.ly Philly's #1 startup nod and mentions in *The New York Times*.[4] This buzz fueled a $4.5 million second funding round, team growth in Philadelphia, and a New York office.[4] By 2020, it partnered with IAS on Total Visibility for supply path transparency, leading to its acquisition by IAS to bolster programmatic solutions.[3]
Amino rides the programmatic advertising transparency trend, fueled by exploding digital ad spend—$79.61 billion projected in the US for 2021 alone—and persistent industry pain points like supply path opacity, as highlighted in IAS's Industry Pulse Report.[3] Its timing was ideal post-2016, amid blockchain's rise for decentralized trust in adtech, influencing the ecosystem by pioneering solutions like Total Visibility that assure efficient transactions and unlock campaign performance.[3] Market forces favoring Amino include advertisers' demands for accountability in automated buying, where blockchain counters fraud and inefficiency; its IAS acquisition in 2021 amplified this, integrating into a leading verification platform to shape standards for quality media buys.[3] This positions Amino as a key enabler in adtech's shift toward transparent, data-driven ecosystems.
Post-2021 IAS acquisition, Amino's tech is fully embedded in IAS's programmatic suite, likely driving expanded Total Visibility adoption as ad spend grows and transparency regulations tighten.[3] Trends like AI-enhanced fraud detection, rising CTV programmatic, and blockchain interoperability will shape its path, evolving IAS's offerings for global scale. Its influence may grow by setting benchmarks for adtech accountability, turning early transparency innovations into industry norms—cementing Amino's legacy from Philadelphia upstart to ad ecosystem cornerstone.[2][3][4]
Amino Payments has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Amino Payments's investors include Josh Kopelman, Altair Capital Management, Amino Capital, Flashpoint VC, Flex Capital, iNovia Capital, Journey Ventures, Locus Ventures, Matrix Capital, TLV Partners, Bobby Goodlatte, Sue Xu.