About us
Illuma was founded in London in 2016 by a team of data scientists and media experts who wanted to develop better ad targeting, which delivers real-world results.
What we do
Illuma is AI-powered contextual ad targeting that works without relying on cookies or identifiers. Illuma is guided instead by insights from live audience browsing behaviour, expanding in real time to find relevant new audiences at scale. Find out more in the video below.
Targeting the unpredictable
Traditional approaches to online ad targeting are based on assumptions about audience and contextual relevance, and can often miss opportunities. We knew it was possible to remove these assumptions and to work instead in real time, finding the opportunities for a campaign as they arise. It would be difficult and need genuine world-leading expertise in machine learning, but our team of PhDs has done it.
Illuma uses AI to find all the contextual opportunities for an advertising campaign, not just those based on past behaviour or predefined content keywords. This allows advertisers to target with maximum relevance and at maximum scale – without using cookies or personal data.
We know the content a person is viewing the moment an ad is served can influence their mindset. It also affects how likely they are to be open to campaign messaging.
But responding to these fleeting shifts in mindset as people move around the open web has simply never been possible. Until now.
These positive campaign moments can happen in many types of content. This means they can be impossible to predict. But, using AI, we’ve solved that unpredictability.
The Illuma difference
Illuma is contextual technology powered by live user behaviour. If one type of content is working for a campaign, we’ll immediately expand into similar quality content. In this way, we find users when they are likely to be open to brand messaging.
For advertisers, this means the best of contextual targeting with the best of behavioural. It means no cookies or identifiers, no guesswork and no inaccurate predictions based on past data or keywords. Instead, we provide live optimisation delivering better results, at scale.
Meet the team
The Illuma team is made up of smart, curious people who are passionate about shaping the future of privacy-friendly advertising.
Dr Abbas Egbeyemi
Technology
Abbas holds a Doctorate of Engineering and specialises in AI, machine learning and full stack software development. He works on Illuma’s tools, products and platforms.
Dr Yu Liu
Technology
Yu is a machine learning and data scientist supremo and holds a PhD from Imperial College, London. He specialises in applying data engineering to advertising.
Maitane Torca
Client Success
Mai leads global client success from Illuma HQ in London. She is a contextual expert and helped launched Europe’s first contextual ad network in 2008.
Rayhaan Al-Marzuq
Technology
Rayhaan has a Masters in Engineering
from Queen Mary University and
specialises in front end development. He works on Illuma’s tools and platforms.
Kevin McElroy
Business Development
Kevin leads Illuma operations in the US from his base in New York. He’s the former SVP of Grapeshot and is a specialist in contextual advertising solutions.
Sonia Pham
Product
Sonia has outstanding industry knowledge on both buy and sell sides; she leads product development, business analysis and operations.
Rong Gu
Platforms
Rong has an MSc in Advance Computing Science from the University of St Andrews. He looks after data processing, product development and platform integrations.
Peter Mason
Product
Peter is a media specialist who has spent his career advancing contextual solutions which benefit publishers and brands. He co-founded Illuma with the data science team in 2015.
Prabdit Suri
Technology
Prabdit has an MSc from Imperial College, London. He works with the technology and client success teams providing data analysis and insights.
Javier Mazon Echevarria
Technology
Javier is one of Illuma’s data analysts. He specialises in statistics, data science and economics and has an MSc in Statistics from the London School of Economics.
Allison Hartnett
Client Success
Allison offers strategic support to US clients, working closely with them to set up campaigns, leverage tools and share best practice. She has a wealth of experience, both buy and sell-side.
Malik Ogungbo
Client Success
Malik looks after UK and EMEA accounts, working with clients at brands and agencies to run their campaigns and provide ongoing strategic support.
Nigel Ponder
Global Partnerships
Nigel is a retail media expert and former founder of Triad Retail Media, Europe. Nigel supports retailers and other first-party data owners with real-time audience modelling.
David Evans
Business Development
David leads agency and brand relationships across EMEA from London. He is highly experienced in adtech solutions, and in supporting client business growth.
Alby Skrelji
Business Development
Alby offers strategic development to Illuma clients in the US. As former Programmatic Lead at Pernod Ricard, he brings a strong understanding of brand and agency needs.