Ridge Ventures

Meta's Revenue Soars; Google Teams Up with Reddit!

AdExchanger's daily news roundup highlights Meta's growing 'other' revenue and a deepening Google–Reddit collaboration, along with TikTok's Shop strategy and leadership moves in the industry. New Street Research forecasts Meta's 'other' revenue will reach $4.1 billion in 2025, above consensus of about $1.4 billion, and projects its share of total revenue rising from 1% to 2%. Analysts also see upside from WhatsApp's business services and Meta Verified adoption. In a parallel move, Google and Reddit sealed a tie-up: Google pays $60 million per year and gains access to Reddit's authentic conversations to train generative AI, while Reddit gets access to Vertex AI and the Reddit Data API for cross‑product display. The piece also notes TikTok's 'Star Creator' internal team to cultivate Shop creators and hiring for leadership roles, and The Shipyard appoints Nigel Carr as chief strategy officer. Marques Brownlee also takes a corporate role at Ridge.

Google Abusing Market Position in India - CCI Probe; Tencent Partially Lifts Rival Link Blocks - ExchangeWire.com

ExchangeWire reports three main items: Google under a CCI probe in India; Tencent partially lifting rival link blocks; and Ketch securing additional funding. The Competition Commission of India will publish findings from a two-year probe alleging Google abused its Android-driven market position to maintain dominance in search, browsing, and Play Store app downloads. It notes Google required manufacturers to sign MADA, AFA, or ACC agreements, giving Google primacy over competitor apps. The report follows a similar Korea Fair Trade Commission action that fined Google USD 177 million for similar abuses. Tencent has begun allowing direct links from QQ to rivals Taobao and Douyin following a MIIT directive, but WeChat still blocks such links. Separately, Ketch raised an extra USD 20 million in a Series A add-on, led by Acrew Capital, with CRV, superset, Ridge Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank participating; Ketch markets itself as a privacy regulation and data compliance platform, led by CEO Tom Chavez.

Podcast: Auren Hoffman Tells The Truth

AdExchanger Talks hosts a conversation with Auren Hoffman, founder of SafeGraph, a location data startup that launched this year with $16 million in funding from more than 100 investors. Hoffman, formerly CEO of LiveRamp, discusses SafeGraph's mission to provide truth about location data: what happened, where it happened, and when it happened, leaving interpretation of why or what will happen to clients. While marketing is a key use case, SafeGraph aims to serve additional verticals including insurance, academia, automotive, retail and real estate, requiring the team to become mini-experts in each sector. The round includes traditional VC investor IDG Ventures, whose managing director Alex Rosen sits on SafeGraph's board. The episode also covers Hoffman's angel-investing philosophy and anecdotes about RapLeaf becoming LiveRamp and whether LiveRamp sold to Acxiom too soon (spoiler: yes). The podcast is sponsored by Nucleus.