Former Oath CEO Tim Armstrong Backs Brand Asset Management Software

Media and advertising and marketing veteran Tim Armstrong has bought a stake in Brandfolder Inc., a startup that makes cloud-based totally logo-management software program.

The size of the stake wasn’t disclosed.

The investment is cut loose his enterprise, Dtx, which invests in direct-to-client manufacturers, said Mr. Armstrong, who departed Oath Inc., the media and marketing subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. In which he became chief executive, on the end of final yr.

Brandfolder allows store, control and degree corporations’ creative belongings, along with logos and advertising pics.

The employer says its software enables manufacturers without difficulty exchange logos, snapshots, and different emblem belongings across more than one platforms thru its integration with many apps.

Brands now are apt to alternate their logo even for sooner or later in pursuit of advertising goals, along with IHOP rebranding as “IHOb” to sell its burgers or manufacturers adopting rainbow color schemes to show guide for homosexual rights.

“Featureless crowd garage sincerely can’t manipulate manufacturers in a dynamic manner,” stated Luke Beatty, chief executive and chairman of Brandfolder, as well as Mr. Armstrong’s university roommate and longtime collaborator.

Messrs. Beatty and Armstrong met as roommates at Connecticut College. Together they co-based Associated Content, which Yahoo acquired in 2010. They endured to paintings collectively at AOL Inc., in which Mr. Armstrong became CEO, and at Verizon after it obtained AOL. Mr. Beatty served as president of media manufacturers at Verizon till 2017.

Mr. Armstrong invested in Brandfolder at the same fee as buyers in its maximum latest funding round, a Series A investment that closed in December. That round, led by using Telescope Partners, valued the organization at about $32.5 million, such as the funding, in keeping with Mr. Beatty. Brandfolder becomes based in 2013 and has raised simply over $8 million, Mr. Beatty stated.

Mr. Armstrong doesn’t bear in mind Brandfolder to be ad tech, a place once in a while defined as the generation that directly makes cash off marketing. He stated he hasn’t invested in advert tech for the reason that leaving Oath, even though he says he hasn’t sworn it off.

“I assume the following wave of innovation—particularly at a startup degree—is virtually greater approximately how e-trade changes,” Mr. Armstrong said. “I’m no longer poor on ad tech and I’m no longer bad on media. I’m simply now not in them anymore.”

Mr. Armstrong’s funding employer Dtx, presently funded completely with the aid of Mr. Armstrong, has sponsored direct-to-purchaser businesses such as undies maker ThirdLove and footwear maker Margaux.

Mr. Armstrong left Oath at the end of 2018. He had taken AOL’s helm as CEO in 2009 and joined Verizon while it acquired AOL in 2015. He has become Oath’s CEO in 2017 and helped steer its purchase of Yahoo in an effort to mission Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. In virtual advertising.