adtech startup tomi raises seed funding to make real estate ads perform as well as e-commerce

The Challenge of Digital Advertising for Offline Sales

Certain sectors, including real estate, the automotive industry, and financial services, typically involve extended and predominantly offline sales processes. Consequently, digital advertising often yields suboptimal results within these domains.

Low conversion rates are frequently observed, and the nature of offline assets creates an incentive for advertisers to prioritize the acquisition of leads and clicks. This practice, however, can lead to increased customer acquisition costs.

While online browsing activity is evident, the ultimate purchasing decisions often occur offline.

Tomi's Approach to Bridging the Online-Offline Gap

A newly established company, Tomi, is aiming to resolve this challenge. They achieve this by analyzing user behavior on a company’s website.

This analysis utilizes a tracking pixel, integrated with ad APIs and CRMs, to enable businesses to engage with customers in a manner akin to that of an e-commerce operation.

Seed Funding and Key Investors

Tomi has successfully secured $1 million in seed funding. Investors include Begin Capital and the Phystech Leadership Fund.

Leadership and Competitive Landscape

Konstantin Bayandin, the founder of Tomi, brings significant experience to the role. He previously served as a senior director of digital marketing and technology at Compass and as chief marketing officer at Ozon, often referred to as “Russia’s Amazon.”

Tomi operates within a competitive adtech market, facing competition from companies like Anytrack, Sociaro, Meetotis, Alytics, and Postclick.

Differentiating Factors

Bayandin emphasizes that Tomi distinguishes itself by concentrating on offline conversions and supporting a diverse range of ad channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and Google.

He explains: “Companies in the real-estate sector are eager to utilize online advertising to promote their properties, but it frequently proves costly and complex. Potential buyers often browse online but rarely make immediate purchases, with most transactions ultimately happening offline.

Therefore, real-estate clients struggle to effectively optimize their campaigns for genuine buyers. Tomi employs machine learning to analyze browsing patterns of actual buyers and refine ad campaigns to maximize conversions.”

The Evolving Adtech Environment

Recent changes in the digital advertising landscape, such as Apple’s discontinuation of IDFA, Google’s plans to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome, and the iOS 14.5 update’s opt-out feature for “personalized ads,” are creating significant disruption.

These developments necessitate the development of new tools and strategies. Bayandin positions Tomi as a key player in this emerging wave of adtech innovation.