Natalie Portier, COO, Appodeal, said this is the company's first round of investment since its 2015 launch. Investors included app publishers Ximad, Lametina Holdings and Lucky Star Games.

Appodeal works like this: App publishers join Appodeal through a one-time integration with their software development kit, and Appodeal negotiates the price per impression with demand sources, including RTB and non-RTB marketplaces.

Appodeal founder and CEO Pavel Golubev stated the mobile ad industry has favored advertisers for too long, adding, "Our aim is to bring power back to the mobile app publishers."

Real-Time Daily spoke with Portier on the company's tech options.

Real-Time Daily: What are your plans for the future?
Portier: We built the supply side, and we already have publishers to attract advertisers. Right now, we're building the ability to connect with direct advertisers so we have more direct offers. That's the next step. We want to integrate with digital agencies and direct advertisers, which will be a whole new branch of the business...

"We have to learn our audience by factors like age, household income, gender and so on. We want to work with as few steps as possible for publishers and provide the right audience to advertisers. 

RTD: Where does the app traffic come from?
Portier: Most of it comes from North America and Western Europe, but we also have traffic in Asia and Central America. 

RTD: What kind of apps do you work with?
Portier: As of right now, we work mostly with gaming publishers, but we also work with some weather and entertainment apps, as well as educational apps for children.

Mobile programmatic is on the rise. In fact, eMarketer forecast that U.S. mobile programmatic ad spending will reach $15 billion this year, accounting for 69% of total U.S. programmatic display ad spending. 

In-app advertising is having its moment, too. Mobile analytics company App Annie and market and analysis firm IDC found mobile in-app ad revenue will triple by 2018 in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S.