Applift

What Applift does

IQM is a US-based programmatic advertising company founded in 2014 that operates an integrated Data Management Platform (DMP) and Demand Side Platform (DSP) purpose-built for regulated industries including political advertising, healthcare, cannabis, and gaming. The platform combines proprietary AI-driven audience segmentation, an identity graph claimed to cover 75% of the US population with an 85% active match rate, and integrations with leading Supply Side Platforms to enable campaign activation across Display, Native, Audio, Video, and Connected TV formats. Disclosed performance metrics include 30-minute campaign activation, 99.9% platform uptime, and 24/7 specialist support.

The company monetizes primarily through subscription and programmatic platform fees across two go-to-market motions: a direct enterprise sales channel anchored by a Washington D.C. regional headquarters (1100 15th St NW) for political advertisers and a New York-area office in Port Washington, NY, and a self-serve platform at app.iqm.com serving mid-market agencies and brands. Its data layer is built on partnerships with more than twelve third-party providers including Experian, LiveRamp, Epsilon, Lotame, AnalyticsIQ, PurpleLab, Semcasting, i360, and HealthLink Dimensions, with compliance badges displayed for GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA.

IQM's customer base is concentrated in regulated verticals, with named engagements including GPS Impact and ClearPoint PA in political advertising. The product surface is structured around IQM DSP, IQM DMP, IQM ID Graph, an IQM Enterprise tier, and IQM Power Segments pre-built vertical packages. The company earned Reed Awards, ADExchanger Awards, and MarTech Awards in 2026, and in June 2026 launched Custom Voter Audiences, an AI-powered precision targeting capability aimed at political advertisers.

Name

Applift

Legal name

IQM

Website

https://applift.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IQM operates an integrated DMP and DSP programmatic advertising platform for regulated industries including political, healthcare, cannabis, and gaming. Its AI-driven audience engine, cookie-less identity graph, and 12+ data partnerships serve agencies and brands via enterprise sales and self-serve channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Programmatic Advertising Platform

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (54183), Advertising Agencies (54181)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Programmatic Display & Retargeting (DSP) (MPAAACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Programmatic Display & Video (DSP/RTB) (BPAFACAC), Digital & Programmatic Media Buying (Display, Video, CTV, Audio) (BPAFABAB)

Keywords

• Media buying marketplace
• Programmatic advertising
• Open internet advertising
• Digital ad buying platform
• Advertising technology solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Mineola

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Programmatic Advertising Platform Fees: IQM operates as a DSP/DMP platform for regulated industries, generating revenue through programmatic media buying fees. Customers (political campaigns, healthcare brands, agencies) pay to access the platform for audience building, targeting, and campaign activation. The platform is described as a unified DSP and DMP, suggesting subscription or platform-access-based revenue, likely combined with a percentage of media spend as is standard in programmatic advertising.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Applift runs a media buying marketplace on the open internet, providing an integrated Demand Side Platform (DSP) and Data Management Platform (DMP) for programmatic advertising. The platform enables advertisers and agencies to build custom audience segments using first-party data, AI-driven insights, and vertical-specific third-party sources, then activate campaigns across Display, Native, Audio, Video, and CTV inventory. It includes an identity graph for cross-device resolution and serves verticals including political, healthcare, cannabis, gaming, brands, and agencies.

Product overview

IQM is a unified programmatic advertising platform consisting of a Data Management Platform (DMP) and a Demand Side Platform (DSP) designed specifically for regulated industries. The DMP enables audience building through AI-driven insights and third-party data integration, feeding directly into the DSP for campaign activation across Display, Native, Audio, Video, and CTV. The platform also includes an ID Graph for identity resolution, with enterprise-tier (IQM Enterprise) and add-on segment packages (IQM Power Segments) available. The system offers 30-minute campaign activation, 99.9% uptime, and 24/7 customer support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Applift Media Buying Marketplace A media buying marketplace on the open internet that enables advertisers, agencies, and brands to plan, buy, and measure digital advertising across Display, Native, Audio, Video, and CTV formats outside of walled gardens. The marketplace combines an audience data layer with campaign activation across premium and niche publisher inventory.
• Data Management Platform (DMP) Data management platform that builds precise audience segments by blending first-party data with vertical-specific third-party sources and AI-driven insights. Created segments are piped directly into the DSP for activation.
• Demand Side Platform (DSP) Programmatic demand side platform that activates curated audiences across Display, Native, Audio, Video, and CTV inventory through integrations with leading SSPs and publishers, with real-time reporting and vertical-specific measurement.
• Identity Graph Identity resolution solution that connects billions of identifiers from online and offline sources, providing 75% US coverage, 85% active match rate, 100% privacy compliance with PII scrubbed, and 0% reliance on cookies.

Quantifiable outcome

• Campaigns can be activated in 30 minutes
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AnalyticsIQcoreTechnology or IntegrationAnalyticsIQ is a data provider integrated with IQM's DMP, providing audience data for political, healthcare, and specialty advertising verticals. AnalyticsIQ's data enriches IQM's audience segmentation capabilities.
• ExperiancoreTechnology or IntegrationExperian, a global data and analytics company, provides third-party audience data integrated into IQM's DMP platform, enhancing demographic and behavioral targeting capabilities for regulated verticals.
• LotamecoreTechnology or IntegrationLotame provides data enrichment solutions integrated with IQM's platform, enabling expanded audience targeting through Lotame's data marketplace for regulated advertising categories.
• EpsiloncoreTechnology or IntegrationEpsilon's identity and data platforms are integrated with IQM's DMP, providing high-quality audience data for targeting across political, healthcare, and specialty verticals.
• PurpleLabcoreTechnology or IntegrationPurpleLab provides healthcare analytics and data solutions integrated with IQM's platform, supporting HIPAA-compliant healthcare professional and consumer targeting.
• SemcastingcoreTechnology or IntegrationSemcasting provides IP-based audience targeting data integrated with IQM's DMP, enabling household-level targeting for political, healthcare, and specialty advertising campaigns.
• LiveRampcoreTechnology or IntegrationLiveRamp's identity resolution and data connectivity platform is integrated with IQM, enabling seamless data onboarding and cross-device targeting through LiveRamp's identity graph for regulated verticals.
• HealthLink DimensionscoreTechnology or IntegrationHealthLink Dimensions provides healthcare-specific audience data integrated with IQM's DMP, supporting physician and healthcare consumer targeting in compliance with healthcare regulations.
• i360coreTechnology or Integrationi360 provides political data and analytics integrated with IQM's DSP and DMP, specifically supporting voter targeting and political advertising campaign activation for Republican/conservative campaigns.
• Leading SSPs and PublisherscoreTechnology or IntegrationIQM is integrated with leading Supply Side Platforms (SSPs) and publishers to provide high-quality ad inventory across Display, Native, Audio, Video, and CTV for regulated verticals. This inventory partnership enables campaign delivery across premium and niche publisher networks.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Lotame: Data Management Platform provider that is both a partner and partial competitor to IQM. Overlaps on data onboarding, audience building, and identity resolution, but does not natively operate a DSP for campaign activation.

Direct peers

• MiQ: Programmatic media partner with deep vertical expertise including political and other regulated categories. Directly competes with IQM in data-driven campaign activation for similar advertiser types and agency buyers.
• Resonate: Audience intelligence platform with deep experience in regulated verticals including political and healthcare. Closely comparable to IQM's DMP capabilities in building vertical-specific consumer audiences for activation.

Broad incumbents

• Google Display & Video 360: Google's enterprise DSP, part of Google Ads. Directly competes with IQM in programmatic buying across display, video, and CTV, with vastly greater inventory access but without IQM's vertical-specific compliance posture.
• The Trade Desk: The largest independent DSP, operating a similar DSP architecture and serving similar brand and agency customers. Differs from IQM by serving all verticals rather than specializing in regulated ones, and by operating at vastly greater scale.
• MediaMath: Independent DSP platform competing in programmatic media buying across display, video, CTV, and audio. Shares IQM's core DSP business model and technology stack but targets a broader, less regulated set of verticals.
• Adform: Independent full-stack ad tech platform offering DSP, DMP, and creative tools. Competes with IQM in programmatic media buying with a similar technology footprint but broader vertical coverage and European market presence.
• Amobee: Cross-channel DSP and ad tech platform owned by Singtel, offering programmatic buying across display, video, CTV, and social. Competes with IQM in the broader DSP market without specializing in regulated verticals.
• Adobe Advertising Cloud: Adobe's integrated DSP and DMP within Adobe Experience Cloud. Overlaps with IQM's DMP+DSP architecture and audience targeting capabilities, but targets enterprise advertisers across all verticals.

Others

• LiveRamp: Identity resolution and data connectivity platform that is an IQM partner via its integration. Operates adjacent to IQM through its identity graph and data onboarding capabilities rather than competing directly in DSP campaign activation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/applift

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Applift