Balihoo
Balihoo is a Boise-based adtech company providing programmatic advertising and local marketing execution solutions for national brands, agencies, and franchise/multi-location businesses, now integrated into the COOL Media platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersBoise, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Balihoo does
Balihoo is a Boise, Idaho-based adtech company founded in 2004 that provides local marketing execution technology for national brands, their agencies, and franchise/multi-location businesses. The company's core offering historically focused on enabling distributed local marketing campaigns with centralized brand control, a problem particularly acute in franchise systems where franchisor brand consistency must be balanced against franchisee performance needs. Balihoo's technology stack includes programmatic advertising capabilities, creative automation, and dynamic creative optimization, delivered as a platform serving local campaign orchestration, geo-targeted media activation, and performance reporting.
In June 2025, Balihoo was integrated into the COOL Media platform alongside four other adtech firms (ADventori, Insticator, OKO Digital, and COOL Media), creating a unified programmatic advertising solution for franchise and multi-location operators. Through this integration, Balihoo's capabilities contribute to a broader channel mix spanning CTV, social, search, display, and SEO, supported by a Cool AI layer and a shared franchisor/franchisee analytics dashboard. The company is led by CEO Zack Dugow and VP of Sales Brian Heppner.
Balihoo raised approximately $24.5M in cumulative venture funding across seven rounds between 2006 and September 2013, with OpenView and Highway 12 Ventures as the most active investors. Pricing, revenue, customer concentration, and detailed ownership data are not publicly disclosed. The exact structural relationship between Balihoo and COOL Media (acquisition, joint venture, or strategic partnership) is not specified in available sources.
Balihoo firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Balihoo
- Website
- https://balihoo.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Balihoo is a Boise-based adtech company providing programmatic advertising and local marketing execution solutions for national brands, agencies, and franchise/multi-location businesses, now integrated into the COOL Media platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Balihoo industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Local Marketing Automation Platform
- NAICS
- Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Advertising Agencies (54181), Media Buying Agencies (541830), Advertising Agencies (541810)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Marketing Technology, AdTech & MarTech Services (BPAFAAAN)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Local & Location-Based Performance Advertising (Local Search/Maps, Geo-targeting) (BPAFACAL), Performance Marketing Automation & Bid Management Services (MPAAACAM), Performance Creative & Ad Production (Dynamic/Iterative) (BPAFACAI)
Keywords
Where Balihoo is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boise
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Balihoo business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
Balihoo product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Balihoo is an adtech company that provides programmatic advertising technology to make local marketing execution effective, efficient, and affordable for national brands and their agencies. The company has been integrated into the COOL Media platform as of June 2025, combining its capabilities with four other adtech firms (ADventori, Insticator, OKO Digital, and COOL Media) to deliver a unified programmatic advertising solution for franchise and multi-location businesses. The offering spans creative automation, dynamic creative optimization, media activation, CTV, social, search, display, and SEO channels.
Product overview
Balihoo has been integrated into the COOL Media platform. As of June 2025, Balihoo joined forces with ADventori, Insticator, OKO Digital, and COOL Media to introduce the integrated COOL Media platform for programmatic advertising. The COOL Media platform is a unified franchise marketing solution that bridges the gap between franchisor brand collaboration needs and franchisee performance requirements, offering channels including CTV, social, search, display, and SEO, along with creative automation and dynamic creative optimization capabilities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- COOL Media Platform (incorporating Balihoo) An integrated programmatic advertising platform that combines the capabilities of five adtech firms including Balihoo, ADventori, Insticator, OKO Digital, and COOL Media. The platform provides franchise and multi-location marketing solutions with capabilities spanning creative automation, dynamic creative optimization, media activation, CTV, social, search, display, and SEO. It offers a shared dashboard analytics source for franchisor and franchisee visibility into location performance and campaign outcomes.
Companies that use Balihoo
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles2 records
Balihoo technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Balihoo partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- COOL MediacoreBalihoo is one of five adtech firms (alongside ADventori, Insticator, OKO Digital, and COOL Media) that introduced the integrated COOL Media platform for programmatic advertising. This is a collaborative initiative where multiple adtech companies joined forces to create a unified programmatic advertising solution. The partnership enables Balihoo to contribute its adtech expertise to a comprehensive platform serving franchise and multi-location businesses with digital marketing capabilities including CTV, social, search, display, and SEO.
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Balihoo competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- SOCi: SOCi is a dedicated localized marketing platform for multi-location and franchise brands, offering social, search, reviews, and localized advertising workflows. It competes head-to-head with Balihoo for the same franchisor/franchisee marketing budgets and channels.
- BrandMuscle: BrandMuscle (now part of Advantage Solutions) provides local marketing activation, co-op advertising, and brand-to-local compliance tools for franchise and distributed networks. Directly comparable to Balihoo's franchise workflow focus.
- Yext: Yext powers local listings, pages, and search experiences for multi-location enterprises, with growing capabilities in local advertising and reviews. Comparable in serving the same multi-location brand buyer and overlapping in local search workflows.
- StackAdapt: StackAdapt is a programmatic DSP offering native, display, video/CTV, and connected campaigns across devices. Balihoo's programmatic and omnichannel capabilities (CTV, social, search, display) overlap directly with StackAdapt's core platform.
- Marin Software: Marin Software provides a cross-channel paid search and social advertising platform with budget management and optimization. Comparable to the search/social components of Balihoo's franchise marketing stack.
- Undertone: Undertone provides high-impact digital advertising and creative solutions for brand and multi-location advertisers, including dynamic creative. Comparable to Balihoo's dynamic creative optimization and display capabilities within franchise and brand campaigns.
- Placewise (now part of Riverbed): Placewise offered digital media, email, and loyalty solutions for shopping center and multi-location retail marketing. Comparable to Balihoo's local/multi-location marketing activation and audience targeting capabilities.
Broad incumbents
- The Trade Desk: The Trade Desk is a leading independent omnichannel DSP spanning display, video, CTV, audio, and social. It is a scaled incumbent in the same programmatic space Balihoo operates in, though without Balihoo's franchise-vertical specialization.
Emerging players
- QuanticMind (now part of Assembly): QuanticMind offered programmatic bid management and cross-channel paid search/social optimization for performance marketers. Comparable on bid-management and performance automation with Balihoo's programmatic stack.
Others
- Chili Piper: While not a direct competitor, Chili Piper operates in the broader martech ecosystem serving marketing-operations and lead-routing needs that often sit alongside franchise marketing stacks. Listed as a thematic adjacent for completeness.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Balihoo social profiles
Digital presenceBalihoo financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Balihoo leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Balihoo funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Balihoo M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Balihoo
What does Balihoo do?
Balihoo is an adtech company that provides programmatic advertising technology to make local marketing execution effective, efficient, and affordable for national brands and their agencies. The company has been integrated into the COOL Media platform as of June 2025, combining its capabilities with four other adtech firms (ADventori, Insticator, OKO Digital, and COOL Media) to deliver a unified programmatic advertising solution for franchise and multi-location businesses. The offering spans creative automation, dynamic creative optimization, media activation, CTV, social, search, display, and SEO channels.
Is Balihoo a public or private company?
Balihoo is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Balihoo founded?
Balihoo was founded in 2004. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Balihoo based?
Balihoo is headquartered in Boise, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Balihoo's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are SOCi, BrandMuscle, Yext, StackAdapt, Marin Software, Undertone and Placewise (now part of Riverbed). The Trade Desk is listed as a broad incumbent. QuanticMind (now part of Assembly) is listed as an emerging player. Chili Piper is listed as an others.
Does Balihoo have an API?
No public API is recorded for Balihoo.
What industry is Balihoo in?
Balihoo's product category is Local Marketing Automation Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAFAAAN, Marketing Technology, AdTech & MarTech Services, with a secondary code of BPAFACAL, Local & Location-Based Performance Advertising (Local Search/Maps, Geo-targeting). Its NAICS code is 5418 and its SIC code is 7310.