After Building Google’s Advertising Business, This Founder Is Creating An Ad-Free Alternative

Plus: Maryland’s First-In-Nation Digital Ad Tax Could Catch On—If It’s Legal

Good morning,

During his 15-year career at Google, Sridhar Ramaswamy built, scaled and ultimately ran the internet giant’s $115 billion advertising division. Now, he’s building a new search engine: Neeva. Unlike Google, it is ad-free and doesn’t track users’ data, and this week, it raised $40 million Series B funding, bringing its total raised to $77.5 million at a $300 million valuation. In reporting on the fundraise, I spoke with the cofounders and investors like billionaire Reid Hoffman about why they think the startup stands a chance against the competition.

Meanwhile, Burger King has been facing backlash over a seemingly sexist International Women’s Day tweet was posted by the burger brand’s U.K. division. The company launched a new IWD campaign on Monday to announce its investment in scholarships to develop women’s culinary skills, but those intentions were distracted from because of a single tweet that read: “Women belong in the kitchen.” Fernando Machado, Burger King's global CMO, says it was “obviously not our intent” to offend. (For more on the intersection of IWD and marketing, check out ForbesWomen Editor Maggie McGrath’s take on the commercialization of the day.)

As always, if you have news tips or story ideas, feel free to email me.

Stay well,

Marty

Creativity

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