Basis
Basis is a privately held Chicago-based adtech company providing an AI-powered operating system for autonomous omnichannel advertising — unifying programmatic, search, social, CTV, audio, DOOH, and direct buying — for mid-to-large agencies and major brand in-house teams via enterprise SaaS plus managed services.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Basis does
Basis, operating as Basis Global Technologies, LLC (formerly Centro, founded 2001), is a privately held advertising technology company headquartered in Chicago. It provides an intelligent operating system for autonomous advertising that unifies campaign planning, media buying, optimization, reporting, billing, and financial reconciliation across programmatic, search, social, connected TV (CTV), audio, digital out-of-home (DOOH), native, and site-direct channels. The platform is anchored by Basis DSP, a top-ranked demand-side platform, and incorporates agentic AI modules — Compass for media planning and SmartBid for real-time bidding optimization — along with supporting modules such as Communication Portal, Dashboards, BasisConnect+ (cookieless), Basis Assistant, Enterprise API, and Unify By Basis. The company reports 170+ API integrations, 25,000+ audience segments across 30+ data providers, 2,000+ pre-negotiated private marketplace deals, and access to 765,000+ DOOH venues.
Basis serves mid-to-large advertising agencies and in-house marketing teams at major brands (with named enterprise customers including NRG Energy, Monster, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, WP Engine, Insight Enterprises, and PAX), using a primarily enterprise field-sales motion supplemented by self-serve platform access and managed media services. Revenue is generated through quote-based SaaS subscriptions priced on media spend volume, features, and team size, typically on multi-year contracts, plus professional services for consulting, onboarding, and managed media execution. The company holds SOC 2 Type II certification and has earned recognition from Gartner (Ad Tech Magic Quadrant), Forrester (Omnichannel DSP Wave), IDC (DSP and CTV Ad Marketscapes), Frost & Sullivan (2025 Global Customer Value Leadership Award), G2 (Top 7 DSPs 2025), and Ad Age (#1 Best Workplace 2026). It has made four disclosed acquisitions (Real Cities 2008, SiteScout 2013, GraphScience 2015, QuanticMind 2021) and raised approximately $52.5M in disclosed equity funding from FTV Capital and Neuberger Berman, with the most recent round in 2015.
Basis firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Basis
- Legal name
- Basis Global Technologies, LLC
- Website
- https://basis.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 501–1,000 employees
- Short description
- Basis is a privately held Chicago-based adtech company providing an AI-powered operating system for autonomous omnichannel advertising — unifying programmatic, search, social, CTV, audio, DOOH, and direct buying — for mid-to-large agencies and major brand in-house teams via enterprise SaaS plus managed services.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Basis industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Programmatic Advertising Technology
- NAICS
- Media Buying Agencies (541830), Advertising Agencies (541810)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Programmatic Media Buying & Trading Desks (DV360/TTD, RTB) (MPAAABAB)
Keywords
Where Basis is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Basis business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Platform Subscription: SaaS platform subscription model providing access to Basis' advertising operating system including DSP, campaign management, automation, and reporting capabilities. Pricing likely based on media spend volume, features, and team size.
- Professional Services: Media consulting and activation services, onboarding, training, and managed media services. Includes in-housing consulting, campaign activation support, and expert execution capacity augmentation.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise SaaS platform with custom pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Basis product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Basis provides a unified SaaS advertising automation platform (Basis Platform) combining a proprietary demand-side platform (Basis DSP), agentic AI media planning (Compass), AI-powered bidding optimization (SmartBid), workflow automation, omnichannel campaign management, and financial reconciliation across programmatic, search, social, CTV, audio, digital out-of-home, and site-direct channels. The offering is complemented by managed media services, consulting, and an Enterprise API for custom programmatic solutions targeting advertising agencies and major brand marketing teams.
Product overview
Basis is an intelligent operating system for autonomous advertising offered as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering is the Basis Platform, which integrates a proprietary DSP (Basis DSP) with campaign planning, team collaboration, workflow automation, financial reconciliation, and AI-powered optimization across programmatic, search, social, CTV, audio, digital out-of-home, and site-direct channels. Key AI-powered modules include Compass (agentic AI for media planning), SmartBid (real-time bidding optimization), and BasisTV+ (connected TV advertising). Supporting modules include Communication Portal (team collaboration), Dashboards (unified reporting), All-Channel Activation, Document Storage, BasisConnect+ (cookieless solutions), Enterprise API, Unify By Basis (technology plus services), Brand Safety & Fraud Protection, Private Marketplaces, DMP Solutions, Cross-Device Targeting, and Basis Assistant (automated campaign notes). The platform is complemented by managed media services for agencies and brands needing expert execution capacity.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Compass: AI-powered media planning tool that automatically allocates spend to the right channels and audiences across the open web and walled gardens.
- Basis TV+
- SmartBid
- BasisConnect+
Products and services
- Basis Platform
Quantifiable outcome
- 133% average lift in return on ad spend (ROAS) with AI-powered bidding
- +9 more outcomes
Companies that use Basis
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Basis technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration43 records
AI capability10 records
Feature14 records
Basis partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
16 partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- CintcoreIntegration of Cint's brand measurement technology into Basis' autonomous advertising platform, enabling real-time brand lift measurement for omnichannel campaigns. Allows advertisers to measure brand awareness, ad recall, and purchase intent daily while campaigns are live, addressing traditional delays in brand lift results.
- Protected by MediaoceancoreIntegration of AI-driven verification and brand safety technology directly into campaign activation workflows, creating a live feedback loop where real-time post-bid performance data informs pre-bid targeting decisions. Eliminates need to switch between activation and verification tools.
- MediaoceancoreFoundational partnership announced January 2026 to integrate platforms and automate the entire media campaign process from start to finish. The collaboration connects media planning, activation, and delivery across Prisma, Innovid, and Protected to enable AI-driven optimization and reduce operational complexity in advertising workflows. This is a deep two-way interconnectivity, not a simple API integration.
- Place ExchangecorePartnership giving Basis users access to over 765,000 DOOH venues across the US through programmatic activation directly in the Basis platform.
- Vistar MediacorePartnership enabling Basis users to access over 765,000 DOOH venues across the US with programmatic activation capabilities directly in the platform.
- DoubleVerifycoreBrand safety and verification partnership providing CTV brand safety solutions that deliver appropriate content alignment and protect brand reputation.
- ComscorecoreMeasurement and analytics partnership providing audience measurement, campaign verification, and brand safety solutions.
- Google Campaign ManagercoreAutomated two-way integration with Google Campaign Manager allowing campaigns to be served with performance data returned into Basis.
- Google AdscoreAPI integration for automated pull of search and social platform data populating daily performance data in Basis.
- Meta / Facebook / InstagramcoreAPI integrations across Meta advertising platforms including Facebook and Instagram for unified campaign management.
- LiveRampcoreFirst-party data activation partnership enabling CRM data conversion into first-party audience segments for targeting.
- HulucorePremium CTV inventory access through major streaming platforms and broadcasters.
- RokucoreConnected TV inventory access for programmatic advertising through Roku's streaming platform.
- Disney+corePremium CTV inventory from Disney's streaming platform for programmatic advertising.
- ESPNcoreSports CTV inventory access for programmatic advertising campaigns.
- FreewheelcoreProgrammatic video and CTV inventory access through Freewheel's premium video marketplace.
Scale indicators15 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Basis competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- The Trade Desk: The largest independent omnichannel DSP, competing directly with Basis across programmatic, CTV, audio, and video buying. Both platforms serve agencies and brands with demand-side technology, audience targeting, and AI-driven optimization capabilities.
- MediaMath: Independent enterprise DSP providing programmatic media buying across display, video, CTV, audio, and native. Direct competitor to Basis in the agency and brand mid-market with comparable omnichannel positioning.
- StackAdapt: Multi-channel programmatic DSP specializing in native, display, video, CTV, and audio. Direct competitor to Basis in the mid-market agency and brand space with growing omnichannel capabilities.
- Adform: Independent global ad tech platform offering DSP, DMP, and creative tools across omnichannel programmatic. Competes with Basis across European and US markets for agency and brand demand-side technology spend.
- Yahoo (Yahoo Ads): Yahoo's ad platform including a DSP offering for omnichannel programmatic buying. Competes with Basis in the connected TV, native, and display segments serving agency and brand clients.
Broad incumbents
- Google Display & Video 360 (DV360): Google's enterprise DSP and part of the Google Marketing Platform. Competes with Basis for omnichannel programmatic buying budgets at large agencies and brands, with deep integration into YouTube and Google ad inventory.
- Adobe Advertising Cloud: Adobe's omnichannel DSP, deeply integrated with Adobe Analytics and Adobe Experience Cloud. Competes with Basis for enterprise brand budgets requiring unified advertising with measurement and creative tooling.
- Mediaocean: Provider of foundational media operations software (Prisma, Innovid, Protected). Now a strategic partner of Basis, but also a broader omnichannel competitor in workflow automation and campaign management for agencies.
- Amazon Ads (Amazon DSP): Amazon's growing DSP offering leveraging Amazon's commerce data and audiences. Competes for the same omnichannel programmatic budgets and is rapidly expanding beyond retail media into CTV and broader programmatic.
- Microsoft Invest (formerly Xandr): Microsoft's programmatic ad platform serving agencies and brands across display, video, and CTV. Competes with Basis on omnichannel capabilities and enterprise advertiser relationships.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Basis social profiles
Digital presenceBasis compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Basis financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Basis leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
Basis funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Basis M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A5 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Basis
What does Basis do?
Basis provides a unified SaaS advertising automation platform (Basis Platform) combining a proprietary demand-side platform (Basis DSP), agentic AI media planning (Compass), AI-powered bidding optimization (SmartBid), workflow automation, omnichannel campaign management, and financial reconciliation across programmatic, search, social, CTV, audio, digital out-of-home, and site-direct channels. The offering is complemented by managed media services, consulting, and an Enterprise API for custom programmatic solutions targeting advertising agencies and major brand marketing teams.
Is Basis a public or private company?
Basis is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Basis founded?
Basis was founded in 2001. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is Basis based?
Basis is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Basis make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Software Platform Subscription is the primary driver. The others are professional Services.
Who are Basis's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are The Trade Desk, MediaMath, StackAdapt, Adform and Yahoo (Yahoo Ads). Broad incumbents are Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), Adobe Advertising Cloud, Mediaocean, Amazon Ads (Amazon DSP) and Microsoft Invest (formerly Xandr).
Does Basis have an API?
Yes. Basis DSP Enterprise API provides access to real-time bidding technology to automate and customize media buying. The API allows creating a customized media buying experience with the top-rated DSP as the engine. Features include: complete control to create campaigns, tactics and ads, manage audiences and conversion tracking, and optimize and analyze every dollar; built-in AI-driven optimization that automatically analyzes data from 30+ campaign parameters towards desired goals; geo-targeting by city, region, or country with hyper-local functionality; cross-platform targeting across multiple devices, operating systems, or applications; access to over 25,000 audience segments with 30+ data providers; and detailed documentation with dedicated support. The API serves Brands, Agencies, MarTech Platforms, Publishers, and Franchise Models. Developer documentation is at basis.com/technology/enterprise-api.
What industry is Basis in?
Basis's product category is Programmatic Advertising Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAABAB, Programmatic Media Buying & Trading Desks (DV360/TTD, RTB). Its NAICS code is 541830 and its SIC code is 7311.