Knower Tech hires Prebid's Racic to helm a new data curation offering for buy and sell sides

Publicis’ acquisition of LiveRamp increases pressure on independent agencies that cannot match large ad-tech investment levels. Knower Tech, a company within Know Co., is bundling tech innovations for small agencies into Rain Barrel, a data curation offering for agencies, brands, and publishers. Mike Racic, president of Prebid, becomes managing director, and Christian Janelli joins as vice president of product strategy. They will oversee an AI-powered data vertical that synthesizes complementary tools, including RainBarrel and bot detection tool Real Impression, into a cohesive ecosystem. The ecosystem enables brands to activate first-party data across the open web in a privacy-safe and transparent manner, helping independents strengthen their tech stack.

"As the holding companies suck up or build more ad tech, including AI-powered data curation - look no further than Publicis' recent $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp - independents find themselves in a position of not being able to afford the same kinds of investments. But they want to stay as relevant and up to date as possible."

"Enter Knower Tech, one of many companies owned by Know Co., which Digiday has described as an altruistic holding company/investment firm. Knower Tech, which houses all manner of tech-driven innovations for small agencies, is bundling many of those innovations into an offshoot called Rain Barrel - creating a data curation offering for those agencies as well as to brands and publishers."

"The new data vertical Racic and Janelli will oversee aims to synthesize complementary data tools (which includes an existing product named RainBarrel, as well as bot detection tool Real Impression) into a cohesive, AI-powered vertical for agencies and in-house marketing teams. This ecosystem will allow brands to activate their own first-party data assets across the open web in what Knower Tech said is a privacy-safe and transparent manner."

""Mike's going to bring all of our products together, including Rain Barrel under this Rain Barrel umbrella brand, so that we can create something that is more transparent for the industry," confirmed Stephanie McCabe, Knower Tech's president. "We want to make sure that we can give independent agencies a step up in their tech stack ... that allows them to punch above their weight.""

Read at Digiday