Digital Works

What Digital Works does

Digital Works is a private Portuguese company operating in the digital and software development space, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Lisbon with a disclosed headcount range of 11-50 employees. The company has positioned itself in the advertising and marketing services segment, with its most prominent publicly documented activity being participation in an AI-marketed ad-targeting offering branded as the 'Active Listening' service. The firm's only disclosed executive team consists of CEO Carlos Rodrigues Silva and CTO/CXO Hugo Ruivo, and its only known equity event is a $198,357 round from BrainTrust in June 2013. No public customers, pricing models, or product portfolio have been disclosed beyond the advertising service tied to the 2026 FTC matter.

The company's most-documented product surface is the 'Active Listening' ad-targeting service, which was publicly framed as using AI-powered analysis of conversations captured via smart devices to enable behaviorally targeted advertising. The U.S. FTC, in a May 2026 settlement, found that the underlying technology claim was false — the service did not actually consume voice data or run AI-based listening; instead, the offering relied on reselling email lists obtained from data brokers, packaged behind the 'opt-in' framing of the 'Active Listening' pitch. The service was operated jointly with strategic partners Cox Media Group (the dominant operational partner, contributing the largest share of the FTC settlement at $880,000) and MindSift (a minor partner settling at the same $25,000 level as Digital Works).

Digital Works' business model is not publicly transparent: no revenue, pricing, customer count, or ARR figures are disclosed. Its only known capital event is the 2013 BrainTrust round, with no subsequent funding rounds visible. The company appeared to monetize its role in the Active Listening partnership via participation in resold data-broker email-list targeting (per the FTC's factual findings), rather than via proprietary technology licensing. Public-firmographic data is also sparse — there is no disclosed parent company, no subsidiaries, no mobile app, no public APIs, and no certified compliance posture. The defining 2026 regulatory action, combined with the absence of any disclosed expansion, hiring, or product activity, leaves the company's current commercial trajectory largely opaque.

Name

Digital Works

Website

https://digital-works.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Digital Works is a private Portuguese digital and software development firm founded in 2010 that operated an AI-marketed 'Active Listening' ad-targeting service with Cox Media Group and MindSift before a 2026 FTC deceptive-advertising settlement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Advertising Services

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (541830), Media Buying Agencies (54183)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Digital & Programmatic Media Buying (Display, Video, CTV, Audio) (BPAFABAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Ad Tech & Programmatic Audio Platforms (MPAIADAH)

Keywords

• Digital advertising services
• Ad targeting platforms
• Marketing technology
• Audience segmentation
• Programmatic advertising

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Core offering

Digital Works sold a product marketed as "Active Listening," a service that claimed to capture consumer voice/audio from smartphones, TVs, and other devices, use AI to identify purchase intent, and serve targeted ads in real time to opted-in consumers. Per FTC enforcement data, the service did not actually use voice-data AI and instead resold email-based targeting lists sourced from data brokers to advertisers.

Product overview

Based on available source data, Digital Works (also referred to as 1010 Digital Works) was a marketing company that partnered with Cox Media Group and MindSift to offer an advertising service. The company is known primarily through an FTC settlement in May 2026 where it was found to have marketed a deceptive 'Active Listening' ad service that allegedly targeted consumers based on conversations captured via smart devices. The FTC determined that this service did not actually use voice data or AI-powered listening technology; instead, it consisted of reselling email lists obtained from data brokers while falsely claiming consumers had opted into the service. No other product offerings, services, or technical product information were available in the provided sources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Active Listening Advertising Service

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cox Media GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2026Cox Media Group (CMG) was the primary partner in the 'Active Listening' advertising service. CMG paid $880,000 as part of the FTC settlement, the largest portion among the three companies.
• MindSiftminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2026MindSift was a partner in the 'Active Listening' service alongside Cox Media Group and 1010 Digital Works. Each paid $25,000 in the FTC settlement.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Direct peers

• Cox Media Group: CMG was the primary commercial partner on the same 'Active Listening' service and bore the largest share of the FTC settlement, making it the most directly comparable entity involved in the joint venture.
• MindSift: MindSift was a co-defendant in the FTC settlement alongside Digital Works, partnering on the same deceptive 'Active Listening' ad service, making it a directly comparable peer in the same marketing/advertising offering.
• SilverPush: SilverPush is an ad-tech company focused on audio/cross-device targeting and has historically faced FTC scrutiny over audio tracking practices, making it a directly comparable peer in audio-based ad targeting.
• Alphonso (now part of Mediabrands): Alphonso specialized in TV/audio content recognition for ad targeting and has faced regulatory scrutiny over data practices, making it a directly comparable peer in audio/voice-based ad targeting.

Emerging players

• Cardlytics: Cardlytics is a purchase-data-driven ad targeting platform with a comparable reliance on consumer data signals, representing an emerging peer in alternative-data ad targeting.

Broad incumbents

• The Trade Desk: The Trade Desk is a leading programmatic media buying platform operating in the same broader ad-tech category, offering overlapping capabilities to advertisers as a broad incumbent.
• MediaMath: MediaMath is an established programmatic media buying and audience targeting platform operating broadly in the same ad-tech space as Digital Works' marketed services.
• Magnite: Magnite is a large independent ad-tech platform providing programmatic infrastructure including audio/CTV, overlapping with the broader programmatic media-buying category Digital Works operated in.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights3 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/digitalworks---engineering-creativity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 Digital Works