Company
Not many people know that when we started AppLovin in 2012, our first product was an app discovery app called AppLovin, built to help friends find new games to play. We struggled to grow that app and quickly realized the marketing tools we and others needed just didn’t exist. From that point forward, our goal was simple: help people discover games they love. We pivoted from building apps to building the performance marketing platform we wished we’d had on day one.
For more than a decade, we focused on helping game developers grow. We built an entrepreneurial team designed to move fast and challenge the status quo. By concentrating on games, we developed deep expertise in the category’s unique challenges. Over the years, we delivered innovative tools that helped gaming companies scale, and today, we’re the largest source of growth for mobile gaming companies.
As our Axon AI technology matured, it became clear that the same technology that made us effective for gaming could help any business acquire customers profitably. Over the last year, we quietly expanded into web and e-commerce, onboarded hundreds of advertisers, and integrated more deeply with the tools merchants use every day. We shipped Dynamic Product Ads, a Shopify app to simplify setup, credit card billing, and tighter measurement integrations, so that brands get to results faster and more accurately.
We’ve also realigned the company around this vision. Earlier this year, we moved to divest our remaining apps business to focus on our advertising roots.
Today, Oct. 1, we’re rebranding our customer-facing advertising offerings as Axon and opening our self-serve Axon Ads Manager on a referral basis. This is the next chapter in our journey: the same platform that has powered outcomes for the most sophisticated mobile gaming performance marketers, now delivered in a product that is simple, transparent, and built for businesses of every size. In the months ahead, we’ll use feedback from our referral-based opening to fine-tune the product for our broader public launch next year.
A performance engine at its core. Axon AI evaluates each impression in real time and bids based on your return goals. We measure value including by using third-party attribution to keep our incentives aligned with your outcomes.
Scale that compounds results. With access to over a billion daily active users in mobile games, we help you reach new customers at meaningful volume. Historically, some brands assumed mobile gaming supply was lower quality. That’s just not true. Mobile gamers represent a broad and diverse demographic, often including key household decision-makers. That gives you direct brand exposure to audiences you’re not reaching elsewhere. The real issue was that past technologies weren’t ready to reach this audience effectively. That changes today.
Self-service access. Credit card billing, merchant integrations including Shopify, Dynamic Product Ads, and a roadmap of agentic workflows and creative tools that reduce manual work and improve performance.
We started as a small business ourselves. We know what it’s like to stretch every dollar, manage inventory and payroll, and reinvest profits to grow. That empathy shapes how we build:
To our team: thank you. You’ve been hustling since we launched the Axon AI technology to get us to this moment. The technology will continue to evolve, and we’ll keep improving it materially over the coming years. Our bar for releasing products is high, and we’re confident it performs today.
To our gaming partners: you helped us build this business as we helped you grow yours. I know there’s concern we’ll forget our roots as we expand. Working with a broader set of advertisers will make ads more personalized, and the incremental data will materially improve our Axon AI technology, driving better results for our gaming partners. We’re excited about where we’re going, and we’ll never deprioritize those who helped us get here.
To our partners who refer others to our platform: thank you in advance for helping us grow. As a current Axon client, you know the impact this platform can deliver. While it may be tempting to keep a growth channel like ours private to keep competition lower, we believe broader adoption will help our models get smarter and benefit you in return.
Starting Oct. 1, you’ll receive three invite codes to share with your trusted peers. Each new referred web advertiser will receive $5,000 in ad credit after spending their first $5,000 within 60 days of joining*. We appreciate you introducing Axon to businesses that are ready to scale.
Our mission is to make profitable growth accessible to every business. If we do this right, we’ll help economies grow and potentially contribute to the creation of millions of jobs. Whether you’re an emerging D2C brand, an established retailer, a services company, or a developer launching your next app, Axon is built to help you acquire high-intent customers efficiently and predictably.
When you win, tell us. Nothing makes me prouder than sharing our partners’ stories.
We’ve spent over thirteen years earning the right to take this step. Now we’re taking it, with the same values that got us here and a platform designed for the next decade of performance advertising.