Ad fraud stopper Enbrite.ly snares $500K prize at Slush 2014 event

Disclosure: The organizers of Slush 2014 paid my way to Helsinki. Our coverage remains objective.

HELSINKI — Enbrite.ly, a company that reveals hidden fraud in advertising, won the $500,000 cash prize for the best startup at Slush 2014.

Enbrite.ly pointed out that, although online advertising is a $121 billion business, as much as 36 percent of ads are fraudulent, where bots are the viewers instead of humans. That amounts to $41 billion in fraud each year.

Enbrite.ly tries to make traffic sources for ads as transparent as possible. The more you understand the online sources and conversion of users, the more you can reduce your cost of user acquisition.

The Budapest, Hungary-based company says it can show you what you are really spending your ad budget on and how much is wasted on non-viewable ads or non-human clicks. It builds analytics into ads that run on a web site, analyze the behavior of the visitors, and look for patterns. It segments the audience into bots and humans and warns you about fraud before you pay out fees.

Slush 2014 drew more than 14,000 attendees to Helsinki. The original prize for the Slush100 contest was $250,000. But thanks to last-minute fundraising among angel investors from 14 countries, the amount was increased to $500,000.

The cofounder of the company is Oszkar Rimoczi.