Mike Welch Named CEO of Captify

Captify, the leading Search Intelligence Platform for the open web, today announced that Mike Welch will become Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Captify co-founder Dominic Joseph, who will remain on the Board of Directors.

In his previous role as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Xandr, Welch was responsible for leading all aspects of the business globally. Prior to Xandr, he spent two decades working mainly in advertising-focused roles at AT&T including Product, Sales, Corporate Strategy, and Business Development, including leading the sale process that resulted in Xandr’s acquisition by Microsoft last year.

Welch was previously chairman of the Board of Directors for INVIDI Technologies and served on the Boards of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Since co-founding Captify in 2011, Joseph has grown the company to become the largest independent processor of search data outside of the walled gardens, connecting over 1 billion real-time searches every day. The business now operates in 13 territories globally, including the US, now its largest market. He also led the company through Series A and B funding, and majority sale to US private equity firm SFW Capital.

“12 years of building Captify from conception to the global business it is today has undoubtedly been the proudest achievement of my career,” said Joseph. “Over the last year or so, I have been working with the Board to find a successor with necessary skills and industry experience to continue accelerating our global growth. From his time leading Xandr, Mike knows our customers and their needs, but also fits perfectly with our culture. I look forward to supporting and advising him as we enter this exciting new phase.”

“The opportunity to lead Captify into the next phase of its evolution is the perfect fit for me,” said Welch. “As a key partner for Xandr over the years, I’ve seen first hand the power of Captify’s technology. Captify has a unique and potent understanding of consumer intent, and there are limitless ways in which that intelligence can evolve all phases of Marketing. Building on the strong foundation that Dom and the team have created, we will scale-up the business and provide highly performant campaigns using consumer intent data across all forms of digital media, including CTV, Addressable TV and DOOH. Additionally, Captify’s cookieless solutions have been gaining widespread adoption, and we plan to continue to innovate and lead in this space.”

“We are excited that Mike is joining Captify as CEO, and look forward to working with him on the continued development of the company as the leading provider of open-web Search Intelligence, building on the remarkable platform created by Dom and the Captify team over many years. Mike brings a wealth of industry experience, deep knowledge of Captify’s advertiser customers, and a track record of leading and supporting exceptional teams to deliver accelerating growth and business performance,” said Roger Freeman, Chairman of Captify’s Board. Freeman added, “We are deeply thankful for Dom’s leadership as CEO of Captify, and look forward to working with him in his continued role on the Captify Board.”