Ericsson Pulls the Plug on Adtech Venture Emodo: A Tech Tragedy in the Making
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Well, folks, it seems like not even a Scandinavian telecom giant can crack the code of the adtech world. Ericsson, the Swedish powerhouse, is officially waving goodbye to its advertising dream, Emodo, after years of watching it struggle to find its footing in the wild, wild west of digital marketing.
Emodo: From Hopeful Startup to Cautionary Tale
A Star is Born (or Not)?
Back in the hazy days of two-thousand-and-seventeen, Emodo burst onto the scene with big dreams and even bigger ambitions. Armed with Ericsson’s enviable connections to mobile operators worldwide, Emodo was going to be the answer to every telco’s prayers, unlocking new revenue streams through the magic of digital advertising.
Buying Sprees and Strategic Shifts
- First on the shopping list was Placecast, a location data platform, scooped up in two-thousand-and-eighteen.
- Not content with just one acquisition, Emodo snagged mobile ad exchange Axonix in two-thousand-and-twenty-one.
But despite throwing money at the problem and even attempting a few strategic pivots—first to native advertising, then to the promised land of connected TV (CTV) advertising—Emodo just couldn’t seem to catch a break.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
The cold, hard truth is that despite its best efforts, Emodo remained a small fish in a very big, very competitive pond. Market share? Elusive. Financial targets? Missed. Ouch.
Emodo’s Swan Song: A Shutdown Shrouded in Mystery
Pink Slips and Whispers of Closure
In a move that sent shockwaves through the industry (and probably a few Slack channels), Ericsson initiated a major layoff at Emodo in May of this year, leaving just a skeleton crew to oversee the inevitable: shutting the whole thing down.
A Website Launch and Then…Crickets
What makes this whole saga even more perplexing is that Emodo appeared to be firing on all cylinders just weeks before the layoffs. They were busy building a fancy new AI-powered CTV ad solution and even had a shiny new website to show for it. So, what went wrong?