Adelaide raised $7 million in seed round led by Human Ventures

Adelaide, a New York-based ad tech company, has raised $7 million in a seed round led by Human Ventures.

Why it matters: The startup's bet is that CPMs and impressions are outdated metrics and that ads in digital media should instead be bought and sold based on attention.

Details: This investment is Human Ventures' first from its Fund 2. The fund's co-founder and executive chairman, Joe Marchese, is joining the company's board.

• Adelaide declined to disclose its valuation and the other investors in this round.
• The company has raised $9.5 million in total, having closed a $2 million round last March and later secured a $500,000 convertible note.
• Investors from its previous round include Medialink CEO Michael Kassan, former Nielsen president of U.S. media Lynda Clarizio, Moat co-founder Jonah Goodhart and marketing veteran Gayle Fuguitt.

Catch up quick: In 2020, Adelaide was spun out of ad tech startup Parsec Media, which focused on selling attention-based ad campaigns for publishers. Kargo acquired Parsec in March.

• Adelaide's clients include Microsoft, AB InBev and Mars.

What they're saying: "Creating transparency into the quality of media placements helps advertisers ensure they're getting what they paid for, and quality publishers command rates that are requisite with their value," CEO Marc Guldimann said in an email. "It also creates incentives to improve user experiences."

What's next: Guldimann says he plans to hire 24 people this year across departments but primarily in sales, engineering and data science. The company is also opening offices in Chicago and London.