AppsFlyer is a SaaS mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform and the first unicorn in the attribution category. The goal of the company is attributing marketing activity to business growth. Adsider spoke with Katerina Greenstein of AppsFlyer about the state of the industry, crisis impact and predictions for the year.

At a $1.6B valuation, AppsFlyer has become the first and only unicorn in the attribution category in January 2020. How does it feel on top? And what are your plans for the next year?

This valuation provides a tremendous opportunity and amount of validation for us. As attribution becomes a crucial element of every marketers day-to-day, this funding will allow us to continue to execute on our vision of providing marketers with a robust, unbiased, and independent attribution platform. The natural progression for us is to maintain an open platform for partners and third-party developers. This will enable brands to innovate in ways that are almost unimaginable today. We're thrilled to have General Atlantic's support on our journey towards democratizing marketing.

Tell us about your platform. What makes it different? What are its main advantages?

The answer is pretty simple, and could be a good guide for when considering any mission-critical marketing platform:

1. Data Accuracy

2. Richness of Platform

3. Customer Obsessed → Unbiased

4. Privacy & Security

We leverage our scale (72% of the market) to train our AI to make attribution data more accurate and clean of fraud. We also leverage our market share to make sure that the Fraud Prisoner's Dilemma is solved, by aligning our partners' interest to protect AppsFlyer clients. It is not enough to have fraud-free and accurate attribution data. You also need to have the correct tools to help you analyze the data and make the right decisions. In the last couple of years we've developed dozens of products and hundreds of features that are critical for marketers to analyze their data and make the right decisions. AppsFlyer is a mission critical tool that is used on a daily basis. Our clients trust us with their most important asset: their data. We take this responsibility very seriously, and do not take our clients' trust for granted. For these reasons, it is crucial that we be unbiased and avoid any conflict of interest with our customers.

What makes AppsFlyer successful? Or, why do companies choose AppsFlyer?

Since the previous funding round three years ago, AppsFlyer has grown its team 4X to 850 employees across 18 global offices. Our ARR has grown 5X, making AppsFlyer one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies. Last year alone, our customers made $28B worth of decisions using AppsFlyer's attribution platform. Pardon the pun, but we attribute our success to the holistic approach we take to mobile measurement and marketing.

How is AppsFlyer faring in 2020 so far? How do you adapt to the crisis?

We started 2020 on a tremendous high with General Atlantic, and much like the rest of the world we are faced with a shift in mentality. To say that it's "business as usual" would do a tremendous disservice to clients, partners, and our team members. Business has changed, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The market itself is always changing, the landscape is always evolving and with every change we face it head on and adapt accordingly. As a company we're fortunate to be in a position to give back to the 18 communities with AppsFlyer offices, to assist our people as they transform their homes into their new work stations and continue to be there for our customers, partners and agencies.

How was the gaming app marketing influenced by the crisis? What are your predictions for the end of the year?

We've been able to gather quite a few insights during the COVID-19 crisis, and as you know this situation is constantly changing and evolving. However, we've been looking at the state of COVID-19 and its impact. Across the gaming vertical, looking at percentage of installs, sessions and revenues we can see that Casual games and Social Casino revenue rose 35% since week 1 and 12-16% since week 6; Hardcore Gaming revenue was up 17% this week after a 14% drop; Midcore also saw a 9% rise after a 13% drop the previous week.

Give us a little insight into your speech at the conference.

I'll be giving attendees a lot of valuable insights on the Gaming industry, which as we know now is an industry that is performing really well given the current situation.

What are three things you absolutely need to stay sane and motivated during the quarantine?

Who needs three? I've cracked the code and have found that chocolate and my daily exercise routine have kept me sane. Finding little treats throughout the day helps to keep the days moving and help to keep me motivated. For some people that may be a favorite show, a new playlist, mediation. Whatever it may be chocolate never hurts.