Co-Founder and CEO of Firefly

Kaan GUNAY

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About

About me

Kaan Gunay is a leader, entrepreneur, and innovator living in San Francisco.

Kaan Gunay

Kaan Gunay is Co-Founder and CEO of Firefly.

Kaan Gunay is co-founder and CEO of Firefly, a global startup that operates a first-of-its-kind network of “situationally aware” digital smart screens mounted to existing ride share vehicles.

Gunay has raised a total of $51.5m USD for Firefly, which is proving to be a win-win business and attracted a number of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists and angel investors including GV, NFX, Pelion Venture Partners, Decent Capital (Tencent founders), Jeffrey Housenbold (SOFTBANK Vision Fund), Cross Culture Ventures, Muse Capital, and StartX.

Gunay has a deep interest in data analytics, smart-city initiatives, and innovation. Kaan has been a fellow at Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Kaan holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University. Kaan is originally from Turkey.

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In The Press

In The Press

25 stories + 16 inclusions ​​with a total potential reach of ​more than 266M

April 4, 2022

FIREFLY & HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA CREATE PILOT PROGRAM TO OFFER RIDESHARE FLEETS & DRIVERS NEW VEHICLES WITH BONUS INCOME UP TO $3,600/YEAR

Firefly, the nation’s fastest-growing in-car and car-top mobility media company and a Google Ventures-backed startup, today announced that it will collaborate with Hyundai in promoting its vehicles – including EVs – See More…

Feb 4, 2021

HAVAS MEDIA AND PUMA TAP FIREFLY’S NEW STREET.IQ

Havas Media and PUMA Tap Firefly’s New Street.IQ Product to Usher in a New Era of Out-of-Home.As the first digital out-of-home platform that uses live data to improve advertising campaigns weekly, Firefly’s StreetIQ surmounts the limitations of traditional OOH channels to drive confidence in outdoor advertising following COVID-19.See More…

August 25, 2020

RIDESHARE AND TAXI AD STARTUP FIREFLY ACQUIRES STRONG OUTDOOR’S OUT-OF-HOME AD BUSINESS

Firefly is expanding its ad business in New York City by acquiring the out-of-home business of Strong Outdoor, as well as by becoming the advertising partner for fleet operator Sally.See More…

May. 30, 2019

FIREFLY RAISES $30 MILLION TO EXPAND ITS BILLBOARD BUSINESS TO TOPS OF NEW YORK TAXIS, UBERS

Six months after emerging from stealth, Firefly is bringing its digital taxi toppers to New York City, thanks to a fresh $30 million funding round led by GV (formerly known as Google Ventures).See More…

May. 30, 2019

FIREFLY RAISES $30M TO PLACE DIGITAL ADS ON CARS, EXPANDS BEYOND SF TO NYC

San Francisco’s Firefly, which puts digital advertisements on top of taxis, food delivery and ride-sharing cars, has raised $30 million in its Series A, led by GV. After launching out of stealth in December, the company has raised $51.5 million to-date.See More…

May. 30, 2019

FIREFLY RAISES $30 MILLION TO PUT ELECTRONIC ADS ON RIDE-HAILING CARS

The gig driving economy might be growing, but excepting cities with minimum wage laws for ride-hailing drivers, the pay certainly isn’t getting any better. Lyft says its drivers’ median earnings work out to $18.83 an hour nationally.A Buzzfeed survey found that Uber drivers…See More…

May. 30, 2019

S.F. STARTUP TAKES SMART ADVERTISING ATOP UBERS AND LYFTS BI-COASTAL

San Francisco-based Firefly has found the latest frontier for targeted advertising: the roofs of Uber and Lyft vehicles.The outdoor advertising platform, which came out of stealth in December,See More…

May. 30, 2019

HUNDREDS OF NYC TAXIS ARE ABOUT TO GO PROGRAMMATIC THANKS TO A FUNDING BOOST FROM GOOGLE

Investment brings Firefly’s total to more than $51 million.New York’s taxi-top ads have been in vogue since the 1970s. Now, Firefly wants to give them a tech-forward twist.See More…

May. 30, 2019

FIREFLY, A STARTUP FOR DIGITAL BILLBOARDS ATOP RIDESHARE CARS, RAISES $30 MILLION

Firefly is moving fast.On Thursday, the San Francisco-based startup, which places digital ad displays on the top of private rideshare vehicles and taxis and then splits the revenue with drivers, announced its expansion into New York City, …See More…

May. 30, 2019

FIREFLY RAISES $30M TO BRING MORE ADS TO UBERS, LYFTS AND TAXIS

Firefly, a startup that allows ride-hail drivers to make money from advertising, has raised $30 million in Series A funding.The company is about to launch in New York City, where it’s also acquiring the digital operations of advertising company Strong Outdoor.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

AN AD-TECH STARTUP THAT TURNS RIDE-SHARING VEHICLES INTO DIGITAL BILLBOARDS JUST RAISED $21.5 MILLION.

Outdoor advertising is booming, and it’s poised to reach $38 billion in spending this year.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY EMERGES FROM STEALTH WITH $21.5M IN FUNDING TO PUT BILLBOARDS ON TOP OF UBER AND LYFT CARS

Seeing a triangle-shape advertisement atop a taxi is a pretty typical sight. Now a new startup,See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

RIDESHARE ADVERTISING STARTUP FIREFLY LAUNCHES WITH $21.5M IN FUNDING

Firefly, a startup that allows rideshare drivers to make money through digital advertising, is officially launching today. It’s also announced that it has raised $21.5 million in seed funding.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

ROOFTOP VIDEO ADS BRING EXTRA CASH FOR UBER, LYFT DRIVERS

Uber driver Jackeline Arana was between passengers when she spotted a car with a video screen on top displaying ads and realized that putting one on her own car could be lucrative.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY NETS $21.5 MILLION SEED ROUND TO BOOST RIDE-HAIL DRIVER REVENUES WITH ON-CAR ADS

A car is just a packet carrying a payload through a network so plopping an ad unit atop it as it caroms from node to node is kinda gross but is probably a viable business.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

HOW FIREFLY IS TRYING TO MAKE ITS DRIVERS’ CAR ROOFS INTO ADVERTISING REAL ESTATE

With its official emergence from beta Thursday, Firefly became the latest advertising and commerce platform to work with drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY RAISES $21.5 MILLION FOR DIGITAL AD DISPLAYS ON RIDESHARE DRIVERS’ CARS

Most gig economy workers don’t make anywhere near six figures, and that’s particularly true of ride-hailing drivers.See More…

June. 2, 2019

FIREFLY RAISES $30M IN SERIES A FUNDING

Firefly, a San Francisco, CA and New York City-based advertising startup putting electronic ads on ride-hailing cars, raised $30m in Series A financing.The round, which brought the total amount raised by the company to $51.5m, See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY, MOUNTING AD DISPLAYS TO UBERS, COMES OUT OF STEALTH WITH $21.5M

Just this week, New York became the first city to set a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers.See More…

Dec. 7, 2018

STARTUP LAUNCHES FOR DIGITAL AD SCREENS ON RIDE-HAILING VEHICLES

Startup Firefly has launched with $21.5 million in seed funding to provide mountable digital smart screens for ride-hailing vehicles in order to display ads. See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY RAISES USD 21.5M IN SEED FUNDING

This week, Firefly, that claims to connect people, governments and businesses to build smarter, safer and more sustainable cities – all of this by sticking a digital screen on top of a vehicle, officially launched out of beta and somehow attracted a number of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and angel investors, garnering USD 21.5M in Seed Funding.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES AS NEW WAY TO CONNECT CITIES, RIDESHARE DRIVERS, AND BUSINESSES THROUGH FIRST OF ITS KIND SMART CITY ADVERTISING PLATFORM

Firefly today officially launches out of beta, with a new approach to spur business and revenue by connecting brands, rideshare drivers, and local city governments.The company, which operates a first of its kind network of ,See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY OFFICIALLY EMERGES FROM STEALTH WITH $21.5 MILLION IN SEED FUNDING TO PUT DIGITAL AD BILLBOARDS ON TOP OF UBER AND LYFT CARS

Firefly, a tech startup that gives drivers of ridesharing, taxi and delivery vehicles a way to earn more money, launched out of beta today.See More…

Dec. 11, 2018

FIREFLY RAISES $21.5 MILLION TO PUT ADS ON TOP OF RIDE-SHARING VEHICLES

Firefly, a startup that is integrating billboards on top of ride-sharing vehicles with 20% of the revenue being shared with drivers, recently exited from stealth mode. And the company announced a $21.5 million seed round.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY CREATES SMART DISPLAY AD PLATFORM FOR RIDE SHARE BUSINESSES

Firefly on Thursday began rolling out an advertising network intended to boost revenue for ride-share drivers from Uber, Lyft and other companies, and to help local city governments to inform consumers about these services.See More…

Dec. 7, 2018

FIREFLY EMERGES FROM STEALTH WITH $21.5 MLN IN SEED FUNDING

San Francisco-based Firefly, which provides a digital advertising platform for rideshare drivers, emerged from stealth and announced it has raised $21.5 million in seed-stage funding.Funding was led by NFX, with participation from Pelion .See More…

Dec. 10, 2018

FIREFLY, DIGITAL AND SMART ADVERTISING

What if drivers of ride hailing and taxi services could generate extra income without having to do much more than… driving around? The startup Firefly launched the answer with a big bang of $21.5 million funding.Through digital advertising, the San Francisco-based startup Firefly allows rideshare …See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY LAUNCHES AS NEW WAY TO CONNECT CITIES, RIDESHARE DRIVERS & BUSINESSES VIA FIRST OF ITS KIND SMART CITY AD PLATFORM

Firefly officially launched out of beta on December 6, with a new approach to spur business and revenue by connecting brands, rideshare drivers, and local city governments.See More…

Dec. 6, 2018

FIREFLY LAUNCHES AS NEW WAY TO CONNECT CITIES, RIDESHARE DRIVERS & BUSINESSES VIA FIRST OF ITS KIND SMART CITY AD PLATFORM

Firefly officially launched out of beta on December 6, with a new approach to spur business and revenue by connecting brands, rideshare drivers, and local city governments.See More…

Dec. 7, 2018

FIREFLY OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES: PIONEERING A WAY TO CONNECT CITIES, RIDESHARE DRIVERS, AND BUSINESSES THROUGH ITS ADVERTISING PLATFORM

Firefly today officially launches out of beta, with a new approach to spur business and revenue by connecting brands, rideshare drivers, and local city governments. See More…

Dec. 10, 2018

FIREFLY RAISES $21.5M IN SEED FUNDING

Firefly, a San Francisco-based digital advertising platform for rideshare drivers, raised $21.5m in seed funding.
The round was led by NFX, with participation from Pelion Venture Partners, Decent Capital, Jeffrey Housenbold, See More…

Dec. 12, 2018

WHY KAAN GUNAY’S DIGITAL OOH MEDIA STARTUP IS GOING ON RIDESHARE CARTOPS

There’s nothing new about media on taxi tops, but a San Francisco start-up called Firefly is trying to go about it with a different approach.See More…

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