Advertising tech has seen its ups and downs in the past decade, but last month again shined a bright spotlight on the space with Meta announcing disappointing earnings due to  privacy changes and Google.

While such news can rattle an industry, it also can provide an opportunity for innovation—and that may be what some investors are betting on as 2021 was a banner year for those that power the technology of advertising.

Adtech (we’ll use the term sparingly since some hate it) actually has been a pretty robust industry among venture and growth investors for several years. Between 2015 and 2019, the sector saw pretty consistent investment—with an average of about $4.5 billion per year—even as deal flow fell, according to Crunchbase data.

However, 2020 brought change—there was a pandemic after all—as investment in the space fell through, with less than $3 billion going into the sector, according to Crunchabse. Last year though, like many other sectors, saw a huge rebound with more than $6 billion in funding going to startups in advertising and this year is on a similar pace.

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