What Vungle does

Vungle is a mobile performance advertising platform founded in 2011 that now operates as a retained product brand under Liftoff Mobile (legal entity Liftoff, Inc.), following Blackstone's 2021 majority acquisition and merger with Liftoff. The combined platform serves over 1,000 global advertisers and reaches 1.4 billion daily active users, spanning demand-side user acquisition, supply-side monetization, programmatic exchange, creative optimization, and vertical-specific gaming and consumer app intelligence. Customer logos span gaming (King, Playrix, PrizePicks), social/dating (Badoo), and food delivery (Just Eat), with segment coverage extending to marketers, agencies, DSPs, and publishers.

The platform is built on Cortex™, an AI-enabled growth engine using advanced neural-network technology that the company describes as processing 21X more data and achieving 4X faster learning than typical approaches. Core products include Accelerate (ML-powered user acquisition), Monetize (revenue optimization against premium demand), Vungle Exchange (programmatic exchange), Creative (ad creative optimization), and Intelligence (app insights via GameRefinery for gaming and AppRefinery for consumer apps). Technology acquisitions — AlgoLift (ML optimization), GameRefinery (gaming intelligence), TreSensa (creative), and JetFuel (influencer marketing) — extend the stack's vertical and functional depth.

The business operates a dual go-to-market: enterprise field sales for large advertisers and publishers paired with self-serve platform access through signin.liftoff.io and app.vungle.com/login for mid-market and SMB customers. Revenue is generated via mobile performance advertising, with the parent company reporting $491.6 million in revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 (30% year-over-year growth) and core advertising revenue up 40% in the same period. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Jefferies led the 2026 IPO on Nasdaq under ticker LFTO, which raised $437 million at a roughly $3.83 billion valuation; Blackstone remains the majority shareholder.

Name

Vungle

Legal name

Liftoff, Inc.

Website

https://vungle.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Vungle is a mobile performance advertising platform operating under Liftoff Mobile, serving 1,000+ global advertisers and 1.4 billion daily active users with AI-powered user acquisition, monetization, programmatic exchange, creative optimization, and gaming intelligence products across mobile game developers, marketers, agencies, DSPs, and publishers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Mobile Performance Advertising: Core advertising revenue from mobile app marketing services. The company generated $491.6 million in revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, representing 30% year-over-year growth. Revenue derived from serving over 1,000 global advertisers.
2. Publisher Monetization: Revenue from matching premium global demand with publishers' ad inventory, maximizing earnings for every impression through the Vungle Exchange and Monetize products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Vungle operates a mobile growth acceleration platform that delivers AI-powered user acquisition, ad monetization, programmatic exchange, and creative optimization services for app advertisers and publishers. Its products — Accelerate, Monetize, Vungle Exchange, Creative, and Intelligence — are powered by the Cortex™ AI platform and serve over 1,000 global advertisers and 1.4 billion daily active users. Vungle is retained as the exchange brand within Liftoff Mobile's portfolio following Blackstone's 2021 acquisition.

Product overview

Liftoff (formerly Vungle after 2021 merger with Liftoff under Blackstone) operates as a unified growth acceleration platform for the mobile industry, combining a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offerings include Accelerate (ML-powered user acquisition), Monetize (ad monetization), Vungle Exchange (programmatic exchange), Creative (ad creative optimization), and Intelligence (app insights via GameRefinery and AppRefinery). All products are powered by the Cortex AI platform, which uses advanced neural-network technology to process massive datasets. Vungle's acquisitions of TreSensa Technologies (mobile ad creative technology) and JetFuel (influencer marketing platform) enhanced the platform's creative and marketing capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vungle Exchange: Programmatic exchange platform for mobile advertising, enabling engagement with high-quality users in their favorite mobile apps.

Products and services

• Accelerate
• Monetize
• Vungle Exchange
• Creative
• Intelligence

Quantifiable outcome

• 21X more data for AI decision-making
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• JetFuelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 June 2021Vungle acquired JetFuel, a San Francisco-based influencer marketing platform, to enhance mobile performance marketing through influencer network and automation technology targeting high-value users and Gen Z demographic.
• TreSensa TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2021Vungle acquired TreSensa Technologies, a New York-based mobile ad creative technology company, to enhance creative capabilities as part of providing a comprehensive app growth suite and strengthening customer relationships.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• AppLovin: AppLovin is the closest direct competitor, operating the AXON-powered mobile user acquisition and monetization platform across both advertiser and publisher sides. It directly competes with Liftoff/Vungle's Accelerate, Monetize, and Vungle Exchange, and is widely viewed as the comparable public-market benchmark for mobile adtech performance.
• Unity Technologies (ironSource): Unity acquired ironSource in 2022 to build a similar end-to-end mobile growth and monetization stack for app developers. It competes directly with Liftoff/Vungle in mobile user acquisition, ad mediation, and programmatic exchange, with particular overlap in the gaming vertical.
• Digital Turbine: Digital Turbine provides mobile user acquisition, ad mediation, and content delivery through its Ignite platform, competing directly with Liftoff/Vungle on the advertiser and supply sides. The 2021 acquisition of AdColony further entrenched it in programmatic mobile video and rewarded UA, mirroring Vungle Exchange.
• Moloco: Moloco operates a programmatic DSP and an ML-powered monetization platform for mobile and connected-TV, directly competing with Vungle Exchange on the demand side and Accelerate on advertiser performance. Its neural-net bidding approach is a direct analog to Cortex.
• InMobi: InMobi is a global mobile adtech platform offering programmatic exchange, mediation, and UA, with strong overlap to Vungle's monetization and exchange businesses. It is one of the few independent mobile adtech players at comparable global scale to Liftoff/Vungle.
• Mintegral (by Mobvista): Mintegral is a mobile programmatic ad network and UA platform with particular strength in Asia-Pacific gaming, directly overlapping Liftoff/Vungle's advertiser and publisher offerings. It is a frequent participant in mobile adtech competitive evaluations.

Broad incumbents

• Taboola: Taboola is a broader content-discovery and performance adtech incumbent with growing native and mobile UA capabilities. While not purely mobile-app focused, it competes for portions of Liftoff/Vungle's advertiser demand, particularly for non-gaming app categories.
• The Trade Desk: The Trade Desk is a large independent DSP competing for the same performance advertisers that Liftoff/Vungle serves, including those buying mobile inventory programmatically. It operates across channels (CTV, display, video, audio), making Liftoff/Vungle a more focused mobile-app alternative.

Emerging players

• Adjust: Adjust is a mobile measurement and attribution platform that is increasingly adjacent to Liftoff/Vungle's value proposition. While not a direct DSP/exchange competitor, it sits in the same mobile growth stack and is frequently evaluated alongside Vungle by performance advertisers.

Others

• Sisense / data.ai (App Annie): data.ai (formerly App Annie) provides app intelligence and market data overlapping with GameRefinery/AppRefinery within Liftoff's Intelligence product. It is an adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct competitor in advertising, but competes for the same intelligence budget from mobile game developers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vungle
• Facebookfacebook.com/vungle
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vungle

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors13 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A4 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vungle