Dataseat, a programmatic media platform for mobile marketers and a part of Verve Group, today announced the hiring of Dr. Matina Thomaidou as VP, Head of Data Science. This latest appointment supports the company’s global expansion plans, deepening its expertise in the data-driven digital advertising industry.

“Dataseat has been able to hold a competitive advantage over our peers because of how we analyse, track and utilise data. It is the fuel that powers everything we do,” explained David Philippson, co-founder and CEO of Dataseat. “With publishers and advertisers, alike, requiring that their data sources be as definitive as possible, we wanted to find someone who would help us look at data through different lenses so we can maintain our advantage. Matina’s history in understanding the complexities around today’s data pools made her the ideal candidate to drive our focus in data to the next level.”

Dataseat relies on machine learning and uses contextual signals–without any reliance on device IDs–to give advertisers full control, transparency, and adaptability over their campaigns. The company was founded by Philippson and Paul Hayton, two industry veterans who previously founded Ad-X Tracking (before selling it to Criteo in 2013) before starting Dataseat in 2019.

Dr. Thomaidou joins Dataseat after serving as Senior Director, Head of Customer Success at Wappier, a software company focused on mobile gaming revenue optimisation. She had also served as Lead Data Scientist (Ad Auction, Marketing Science, Gaming) at Facebook in Ireland, where she led several strategic initiatives in order to scale ad auction insights and recommendations to clients globally.

“The Dataseat team understands attribution and its challenges in the technology landscape better than many companies in our sector,” Dr. Thomaidou explained. “When I was researching data science and online computational advertising for my PhD, I knew about the work from Paul on attribution challenges and solutions; at that time, this was pioneering work for the industry. I am eager to see what we can achieve together.”

Dr. Thomaidou explained that she and her colleagues are heavily focused on understanding the relationship between the value of different audiences and the creation of event optimisation models for user acquisition campaigns that drive those audiences. She hopes the data that is learned from the study of this relationship will aid in a more efficient incorporation of contextual signals, better retargeting and stronger user engagement.

Dr. Thomaidou received both a Master’s Degree (Information Systems) and a Doctorate Degree (Ph.D., Machine Learning for Online Advertising) from Athens University of Economics and Business.