MIAMI, USA – Miami headquartered Alfi Inc., the ad-tech and content AI SaaS platform company powering computer vision with machine learning models, has announced the opening of its London office.
The Company also announced it has also appointed Kevin Buchler as Vice President, UK and Europe Operations, as the company looks to expand its European footprint.
Alfi has opened a new office! We are thrilled to be growing enough every day that we needed an additional office location and are looking forward to settling in in London.$ALF #getAlfi #SaaS #Advertising #Marketing #Nasdaq #DOOH #UK #Privacy #OutofHome https://t.co/HvZSjtHcqp
Sponsor— Alfi, Inc (@_getalfi) September 24, 2021
Alfi has had an office in Belfast since January 2019 and already has a strong and fast-growing client base in the UK which includes Belfast Airport and Value Cabs, one of Northern Ireland’s largest taxi firms. It has also recently won a contract to deliver its digital advertising technology in multiple kiosks located within one of England’s most prominent shopping centres.
Founded in 2018, the company only listed on Nasdaq in May this year and has been supported by a flurry of positive announcements. Recent announcements have included an update on the rollout of its AI-enabled tablets to rideshare drivers throughout the U.S, expanding on its successful partnership with independently contracted Uber and Lyft drivers. Alfi provides taxis and rideshares with screens deployed with a beneficial interactive platform for operators, that provide passengers with a range of important information and travel updates to local and international news.
Alfi has also recently signed a letter of intent with Lemma, one of the largest and fastest growing programmatic DOOH (Digital Out of Home) networks, to cross-sell and promote each other’s operations and services as part of their respective offerings to customers across countries.
Alfi targets the advertising and marketing sectors with its technology to support their digital out of home campaigns, enabling them to increase their ROI, deliver more accurate targeting, advanced reporting, and detailed performance insights. It also targets a range of business owners who can deploy its technology in their waiting areas for example, in a way that is compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA.
Kevin Buchler as Vice President, UK and Europe Operations, said: “We believe we can offer the media world’s a state-of-the art Artificial Intelligence (AI) machine learning computer vision proposition, and with our new London office we can more effectively tap into one of the world’s most dynamic, biggest and fastest growing advertising and digital communication markets.”
Founder and chief executive officer Dr Paul Pereira commented: “This is a great time to further strengthen our UK capabilities. UK advertising spend is predicted to reach £27.7 billion this year, a rise of 18.2% on 2020.(1) Furthermore, the digital out of home advertising market is estimated to grow by 43.7% in 2021, and a further 27.1% in 2022. (1)
“Kevin is well suited to lead our UK and international operations, bringing extensive industry experience to the team. His knowledge, network, and connections put us in a strong position to expand outside of the US.”
Alfi’s new London office is strategically located in London’s Waterhouse Square, Holborn, enabling it to tap into City’s AI and Machine Learning tech talent pool, but also its thriving media and marketing community and London’s rideshare/taxi hub. The Company has offices in Miami, Denver and Belfast.
Growth in the digital out of home advertising market
Research commissioned (2) earlier this year by Alfi reveals 95% of advertising executives expect the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising sector to grow over the next two years, with 51% anticipating dramatic expansion. At the end of 2020, the DOOH advertising market was estimated to be worth $41.06 billion (3), but by 2026, nearly two out of three (65%) advertising executives interviewed predict this will rise to between $50 billion and $55 billion. A further 16% expect it to be worth between $55 billion and $60 billion, and 14% estimate it will be even bigger.
In terms of how advertising spend on DOOH will change between now and 2026, 50% of respondents anticipate it will rise dramatically and a further 40% expect it to increase slightly.
The main reason for this growth is that there will be a bigger general spend on digital advertising – the view of 66% of senior advertising professionals interviewed. This was followed by 62% who said advances in technology mean that digital out of home advertising will be able to provide even more analysis around campaigns run on them. Other reasons given for the anticipated increased spend include the general growing focus on evaluating advertising campaigns and the strength of the DOOH market here, and a rapid increase in the number of advertising digital screens being rolled out.
