Cxense, a Norwegian provider of publisher-focused ad tech, on Monday acquired Maxifier, whose technology optimizes direct sold campaigns, for $3.56 million in stock.
“Our ability to understand customer behavior and data will be injected into Maxifier’s extremely rich ability to forecast and optimize advertising campaigns, and vice versa,” said Geraldo Maroniene, Cxense’s EVP of corporate development.
Cxense hopes to create a complete SaaS-based stack that includes solutions for publisher content and advertising – but with enough flexibility to allow publishers to plug in additional applications.
Initially, Cxense will focus on selling the Cxense product to Maxifier’s 25 media company customers and the Maxifier product to its 300 customers. Complete integration of the two products will take about a year. Maxifier’s big-name customers include Condé Nast, Forbes, The Atlantic and Bauer Media.
“This is a fantastic step forward for us growing in the North American market,” said Lauren Pedersen, Cxense’s global marketing VP.
The acquisition will also strengthen Cxense’s position in Europe, where about 45% of Maxifier’s customers are based.
Maroniene compared Cxense to Adobe Marketing Cloud, “one of the few companies that have a complete technology stack.”
Cxense, which has 100 employees, will consolidate company offices for Maxifier’s 65 employees, including its highly valued engineers. “We have no plans of changing the footprint,” Maroniene said.
Maxifier’s CEO Denise Collella left last week to join NBC Universal, leading advanced advertising products and strategy. Maroniene said her departure was unrelated to the acquisition. The deal has been brewing since the end of last year.
The deal values Maxifier at 1.1 times annual revenue, based on a monthly average revenue of $223,000 during Q1. Additional incentives post-deal could almost double the purchase price provided the Maxifier meets certain revenue goals.
