New York-based DSP StrikeAd expands into Asia, eyeing rich mobile opportunity

Costa will be responsible for managing operations across Asia-Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand, and driving awareness and brand recognition of StrikeAd’s mobile DSP in the region.

The Asia-Pacific expansion follows the company’s recent relocation of its global headquarters from London to New York. Prior to the expansion, StrikeAd partnered with Tokyo-based advertising business Mediba to bring its platform to the Japanese market.

Alex Rahaman, CEO and founder of StrikeAd, said it is important to establish an independent foothold early in Asia-Pacific, with mobile advertising in the region expected to account for nearly a quarter of global spend in online advertising by 2014.

"Carl’s deep and valuable experience in the Asian mobile advertising market makes him a key appointment for the company,” Rahaman said. “With StrikeAd’s rapid expansion, he will be invaluable in helping to grow the company in this new and exciting market."

With more than a decade of experience in the mobile advertising industry, Costa was most recently a founding member and managing director of mobile gaming and advertising network 24MAS, where he led the development of strategic partnerships with Nokia Siemens Networks in Asia.

He was previously the vice president of sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Enpocket, a global mobile media company providing integrated entertainment and mobile marketing services that was acquired by Nokia in 2007.

“We’ve witnessed the massive upturn in the adoption of smartphones across Asia over the last 12 to 18 months and as a result budgets for mobile are only increasing,” Costa said. “We are in the prime position to help educate the market in Asia-Pacific on the benefits of using a mobile DSP with real-time bidding capabilities, and we’re building a local team ready to deliver this effectively to the market.”