Omar Hamoui founded AdMob in January 2006 while in the MBA program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Hamoui's experience in mobile didn't start there, though. He's founded and run several companies in the mobile, online, and computer software industries, including Vertical Blue, HerBabyShower.com, GoPix, and fotochatter.
Early in its development and under the leadership of Omar Hamoui, AdMob took an aggressive yet generous leadership position by sharing data to help educate marketers on the potential of mobile advertising. AdMob has consistently been an innovator in building out the mobile ad model and providing industry leadership for mobile advertising."
- Ty Braswell
- founder of Creative Digital Strategies
After completing his undergraduate degree in computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles, Hamoui founded and ran Vertical Blue, a computer programming outfit, for almost four years. He then spent nearly two years at Sony Pictures Digital as a senior program manager before serving as president and COO at GoPix. Then, the entrepreneurial itch struck again. HerBabyShower.com and fotochatter were indeed preludes to what was to come at AdMob.
Boasting itself as the world's largest mobile advertising marketplace now, AdMob got off the ground when Hamoui was trying to build traffic on fotochatter, his mobile to mobile image sharing network. The complexities and fragmentation he encountered convinced him that there had to be a better way to acquire and engage users on mobile. Since then, AdMob has successfully built and continues to expand on technology that enables advertisers to connect with a relevant audience of consumers on mobile devices and gives publishers the ability to effectively monetize their mobile traffic. Today, AdMob provides the tools, data, and business models fueling the explosive growth of mobile media in more than 160 countries and territories worldwide. AdMob has amassed a war chest totaling $46.8 million in venture capital funding since the fall of 2006.
You can follow Hamoui on Twitter at @omarh.
