Alfi, Inc. (ALF): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

How does a company like Alfi, Inc. (ALF), which promised to revolutionize Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising with AI and computer vision, end up in Chapter 7 liquidation? This is a compelling story of a powerful mission-to deliver personalized, privacy-compliant ads in physical spaces-colliding with the harsh realities of scaling a capital-intensive business model.

Despite ceasing operations after its October 2022 bankruptcy filing, the company's ticker still saw a price of $10.62 per share as recently as November 13, 2025, with a market capitalization of approximately $14.38 million, a fascinating disconnect you need to understand. We will break down Alfi, Inc.'s innovative technology, its intended ~100% revenue stream from programmatic digital advertising, and the ownership structure that shaped its volatile journey.

Alfi, Inc. (ALF) History

You need to understand the full arc of a company, not just its peak. The history of Alfi, Inc. is a crucial case study in the volatile world of ad-tech, specifically in the digital-out-of-home (DOOH) space. The direct takeaway is this: Alfi, Inc. was an ambitious venture that aimed to revolutionize rideshare advertising with AI, but its operational history ended abruptly with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in late 2022, meaning that as of November 2025, the company is defunct and holds no market position as an operating entity.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The company was initially incorporated in the State of Florida in April 2018 under the name Lectrefy, Inc., before reincorporating in the State of Delaware and changing its name to Alfi, Inc. on November 13, 2018.

Original location

The principal executive offices for Alfi, Inc. were established in Miami Beach, Florida.

Founding team members

Key individuals involved in the founding and early development stages included Paul Pereira, who served as CEO, Dennis McIntosh as CTO, and Charles Pereira.

Initial capital/funding

Specific details on initial seed funding are not publicly detailed. The company's major capital infusion came from its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in May 2021, which generated gross proceeds of approximately $18 million before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

The company's trajectory was fast and ultimately unsustainable, a classic example of a hardware-based ad-tech solution struggling to scale. Here's the quick math on its operational life: four years from incorporation to bankruptcy filing.

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's path was shaped by two major, opposing forces: a high-profile market debut and a swift, total operational collapse. The IPO was defintely the high-water mark.

• The May 2021 IPO: Listing on Nasdaq was the ultimate validation of the company's vision for using computer vision and machine learning to deliver privacy-compliant, targeted ads. The $18 million raised was intended to aggressively increase distribution-delivering more Alfi-enabled tablets and kiosks to rideshares and airports to drive ad revenue.
• The Technology Pivot: Early on, the company realized the hardware deployment model was tough. They focused on developing the AI platform as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering, hoping to diversify revenue streams and reduce reliance on direct ad sales. This was a smart strategic move, but it came too late to save the business.
• The Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (October 2022): This was the final, irreversible transformative moment. Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation means the company ceased all operations and began the process of selling off assets to pay creditors. It's a complete failure of the business model and execution, leaving no market position or future outlook as of November 2025.

What this estimate hides is the extreme challenge of scaling hardware, managing supply chains, and navigating the complex regulatory and privacy landscape for facial fingerprinting technology. For a deeper dive into the initial strategic intent, you can explore the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Alfi, Inc. (ALF).

Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Ownership Structure

The company associated with the ticker ALF is currently Centurion Acquisition Corp., a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), not the original Alfi, Inc. which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in October 2022. This means your analysis of the stock, which trades on NASDAQ, is focused on a blank check company seeking to complete a business combination, not an operating tech firm.

The ownership structure is heavily institutional, which is typical for a SPAC, as arbitrage funds buy in knowing the trust value of the shares. As of November 2025, the stock trades around $10.62 per share.

Centurion Acquisition Corp.'s Current Status

Centurion Acquisition Corp. (ALF) is a publicly traded shell company incorporated in 2024, with its shares listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

It is in the Pre-Deal phase, meaning its sole focus is to find and merge with a private target company, specifically one in the technology sector with a focus on video gaming, interactive entertainment, or Software as a Service (SaaS).

The company's market capitalization was approximately $383.02 million as of November 11, 2025, with around 35.94 million shares outstanding.

If you're looking for the operating company's financial health, you need to check the SPAC's trust value, not its revenue-you can see a deeper dive into the shell company's balance sheet in Breaking Down Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Centurion Acquisition Corp.'s Ownership Breakdown

The ownership is dominated by institutional players, primarily merger arbitrage funds, which is standard for a SPAC. These funds invest to capture the spread between the share price and the cash-in-trust value. The data below is based on the most recent institutional filings as of mid-2025, reflecting the public float of Centurion Acquisition Corp.

Here's the quick math on the largest holder: First Trust Capital Management L.P. holds approximately 3.0075 million shares, valued at over $32.03 million as of mid-2025.

Centurion Acquisition Corp.'s Leadership

The leadership team, with an average tenure of just 1.8 years, is relatively new to this specific entity, which is common for a SPAC whose management is focused on the acquisition process.

The team brings experience from the technology and interactive entertainment sectors, aligning with the SPAC's target focus.

• Mark Gerhard: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director. He is a technology entrepreneur and former CEO of Jagex, a major UK games developer.
• David Gomberg: President and Director. A seasoned executive with 25 years in technology and media entertainment, co-founder of PlayFusion.
• Riaan Hodgson: Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Director. He has extensive operational experience in technology, corporate strategy, and predictive analytics.
• Thomas Vu: Class II Director, appointed in June 2025, adding recent board expertise.

The board's average tenure is also short at 1.4 years, so you defintely need to watch for any rapid changes or announcements as they near a potential merger target.

Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Mission and Values

Alfi, Inc.'s core purpose was to revolutionize the Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising market by infusing it with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision, aiming for unprecedented targeting precision while maintaining user privacy.

You're looking for what Alfi, Inc. stood for beyond the balance sheet, but the reality is that the company's aspirational mission has been overshadowed by its financial distress, including a Chapter 7 liquidation filing in late 2022. Still, their cultural DNA was rooted in a distinct technological vision for advertising accountability.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The company centered its operational philosophy on transforming the DOOH space, which had seen little technological change for decades, by creating a system that could deliver relevant content to the right person at the right moment in time. This was a direct response to the industry's lack of accountability and transparency in ad delivery.

Here's the quick math on the current situation: the company's Net Income (ttm) was approximately -$22.78 million as of November 2025, which shows the immense gap between their grand vision and their financial execution. The core purpose, however, was built on three pillars:

• Bring next-level transparency to DOOH advertising.
• Ensure privacy-compliance with a no-cookies approach.
• Utilize machine learning models for real-time audience detection.

Official mission statement

While a formal, single-sentence mission statement wasn't widely published, the company's stated objective was to deliver value to advertisers and screen owners by turning digital displays into intelligent screens. They aimed to provide a neutral Software as a Service (SaaS) platform for all brands and DOOH assets globally.

This was an attempt to take programmatic advertising (automated buying and selling of ad space) to the next level. You can see the ambition in how they positioned their technology, which was designed to recognize what-not who-was viewing an ad, basing content on anonymized demographics like age and gender.

Vision statement

Alfi, Inc.'s vision was to become the global standard for ethical, targeted advertising in physical spaces. They saw their AI and computer vision platform as the future of the industry, especially as the market moved away from traditional deep data collection methods.

The vision was massive, targeting high-traffic public environments like airports and stadiums, with an estimated annual passenger volume of 4.5 billion globally in airports alone, according to their earlier research. What this estimate hides is the capital and operational challenge of scaling the hardware component, which ultimately became a major risk. For a deeper dive into who was still holding the bag as of late 2023, check out Exploring Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Given Company slogan/tagline

The company did not maintain one consistent, widely-marketed slogan, but their messaging consistently emphasized the core value proposition of their technology. Their communications often highlighted key themes that acted as a de facto tagline:

• Intelligent advertising, privacy-first technology.
• Transparency and accountability to the digital out-of-home advertising marketplace.

To be fair, the market has completely re-rated the company's prospects; as of November 6, 2025, the share price for the original entity (ALFIQ) was trading at roughly $0.0001 per share, a clear indicator that the market views the original mission as defunct. That's a defintely tough pill to swallow for early investors.

Alfi, Inc. (ALF) How It Works

Alfi, Inc.'s core technology is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed to transform Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising by using computer vision to serve relevant ads in real-time. The system's value creation model, prior to its operational halt, centered on delivering verifiable, audience-based marketing to advertisers who were tired of the scattershot approach of traditional digital billboards. Breaking Down Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors, you'll see the challenge was scaling this model profitably.

Alfi, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

The company's primary offering was its AI-powered platform, which monetized public screens in high-traffic areas. This technology was intended to bring the precision of online advertising to physical spaces.

Alfi, Inc.'s Operational Framework

The operational framework was built on a three-step process: deploy, detect, and deliver. The goal was to replace static or rotation-based DOOH ads with a highly targeted, data-driven approach. Honestly, this is a brilliant concept, but the execution and scale were the defintely the challenge.

• Deployment: Alfi's software was installed on digital screens in high-traffic environments like airports, stadiums, and ride-share vehicles.
• Detection: The system used non-biometric computer vision (AI and machine learning) to anonymously analyze the audience in front of the screen, determining demographics like age and gender, but critically, it did not store personal data.
• Delivery & Monetization: Based on the detected audience segment, the platform dynamically served a pre-purchased, relevant advertisement. Revenue was generated through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, charging advertisers based on verified impressions delivered to their target audience.

Here's the quick math: If a screen in a taxi was viewed by 50,000 unique riders per month, and the platform could verify 95% of those as a targetable demographic, that's a massive improvement over traditional DOOH's estimated reach. However, the company reported no meaningful revenue for the twelve months ending October 25, 2025, underscoring the gap between technical promise and financial reality.

Alfi, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

The company's competitive edge rested on its technology and its privacy-first stance, which was a key differentiator in the increasingly regulated advertising technology landscape. What this estimate hides is the intense capital required to win media operator contracts and scale hardware deployment.

• Privacy-Compliant AI: The use of non-biometric computer vision to detect audience segments without storing personally identifiable information (PII) was a strong selling point for media operators concerned about data privacy laws.
• Verified Audience Measurement: The platform offered advertisers a metric-a 'verified impression'-that was far more precise than the estimated audience counts of traditional DOOH. This allowed for better Return on Investment (ROI) justification.
• Dynamic Ad Serving: The ability to change a digital ad in real-time based on the viewer's characteristics or even the time of day created a premium advertising inventory that commanded higher prices than static content.

Still, despite these advantages, the company faced significant hurdles, including intense competition and a small market capitalization of approximately $15.6 million as of early 2024, which limited its ability to raise capital. The fact that Alfi, Inc. was delisted in late 2024 and is currently quoted on the grey market under the symbol ALFIQ is a clear indicator that the strategic advantages were not enough to overcome operational and funding constraints.

Alfi, Inc. (ALF) How It Makes Money

Alfi, Inc. historically generated revenue by providing a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform for Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision to serve targeted ads on digital screens, primarily in rideshare vehicles. However, it is crucial to understand that Alfi, Inc. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in October 2022 and, as of November 2025, is not an operating entity, meaning its revenue for the 2025 fiscal year is effectively $0.

Given Company's Revenue Breakdown

To understand the company's former financial engine, we must look at its last operational model. The revenue streams below represent the structure of its business before the 100% decrease in revenue that followed its operational cessation.

Business Economics

The core of Alfi, Inc.'s former model was a two-sided marketplace: selling targeted ad space to advertisers and generating a recurring Software as a Service (SaaS) fee. Advertisers paid a premium for the AI-driven targeting, which used computer vision to determine audience demographics-age, gender, and geolocation-in real-time, aiming for a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional out-of-home ads.

The pricing strategy centered on a cost-per-impression (CPI) model, where advertisers paid based on verified views. The company then shared a portion of this ad revenue with the publishers, such as the rideshare drivers or fleet operators who hosted the tablets. This revenue-share model was designed to incentivize rapid hardware deployment, but it created significant margin pressure, plus a high cash burn rate that ultimately exceeded revenue generation.

• Publisher Payouts: A significant portion of ad revenue went to drivers/operators.
• High Fixed Costs: Scaling the hardware (tablets) and software development required substantial upfront capital.
• Cash Flow: The business struggled with a high cash burn rate, which made securing follow-on funding impossible.

Given Company's Financial Performance

The financial performance of Alfi, Inc. is a cautionary tale of a high-growth, high-burn model that failed to achieve escape velocity. The last reported operational figures highlight the severity of the situation before the Chapter 7 filing. You can get a deeper dive into the company's financial history here: Breaking Down Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

• Last Reported Revenue: For the fiscal year 2023, the company reported a revenue of only $2.1 million.
• Net Loss: In the same period, the net loss was a staggering $14.7 million, showing the immense gap between operating costs and revenue.
• 2025 Status: Due to the Chapter 7 liquidation, the company's operational revenue for the 2025 fiscal year is $0.
• Market Valuation: Despite the liquidation status, the stock (ALF) was trading at approximately $10.62 per share as of November 13, 2025, with a market capitalization of around $381.656 million, which likely reflects low-volume trading of a defunct entity or warrants, not an operating business.

Here's the quick math: A $14.7 million loss on $2.1 million in revenue indicates an operating expense multiple of roughly 7x revenue. That's defintely not sustainable.

Alfi, Inc. (ALF) Market Position & Future Outlook

The operational reality for Alfi, Inc. as of November 2025 is one of liquidation, not market growth, following the company's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in October 2022 and the cessation of its operations. The company's future outlook is centered on the disposition of its intellectual property (IP) and physical assets, not on capturing new market share in the rapidly expanding Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising sector, which is projected to be a $31.16 billion global market in 2025. The core value proposition-AI-driven audience measurement-remains highly relevant, but the company is no longer an active competitor.

For a detailed look at the original strategic vision that drove the company's technology development, you can review its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Alfi, Inc. (ALF).

Competitive Landscape

Alfi, Inc.'s competitive standing in 2025 is effectively zero, as the company is in liquidation. The market it once sought to disrupt-AI-driven programmatic DOOH-is now dominated by large, established media owners and rapidly growing ad-tech platforms. The top three global players commanded over one-third of global revenue in 2024, underscoring a highly concentrated landscape. The table below reflects the competitive environment Alfi, Inc. has exited, with its market share at 0% for the 2025 fiscal year.

Opportunities & Challenges

For Alfi, Inc., the traditional concepts of opportunities and risks have been replaced by the dynamics of a Chapter 7 liquidation. The primary opportunity is for its technology to find a new life, while the main challenge is the complete loss of capital for former investors.

Industry Position

Alfi, Inc.'s former industry position was as an innovative, but undercapitalized, programmatic ad-tech layer in the DOOH space. Its current standing is purely as a repository of distressed assets.

• Technology Relevance: The AI and computer vision technology remains highly relevant, aligning with the industry trend toward programmatic advertising and real-time audience data, a market segment that is experiencing rapid growth.
• Operational Status: The company is non-operational, having ceased all business activities after the Chapter 7 filing in October 2022.
• Market Impact: The company's exit has not materially impacted the DOOH market, which continues its strong growth trajectory with the global market size estimated at $31.16 billion in 2025.
• Valuation: Any remaining value is tied exclusively to the sale of its intellectual property and patents, which is the final step in the liquidation process.

The key takeaway is that the technology was right, but the execution and financial stability were not. The DOOH market is still a hot space.