Tired: buying data to target audiences. Wired: buying the whole dang data company.
Alliant, an audience platform built on consumer transactional data, announced Wednesday that it has been acquired by Inverness Graham, a private equity firm based in Philadelphia.
Alliant will continue to operate as an independent company under the leadership of JoAnne Monfradi Dunn – founder, president and CEO – who will also remain as a minority investor and board member.
Contrary to the typical private equity playbook, Inverness Graham has no plans to wring efficiencies from Alliant’s business before reselling it, said Michael Morrissey, managing principal at Inverness Graham.
Rather, this deal is a “platform investment,” in which Inverness Graham sees Alliant as a foundation to build on, Morrissey said. “This is a business that we could double or triple just by doing more with the opportunity set that’s out there.”
In addition to pursuing organic “top-line and bottom-line” growth, Morrissey said Inverness Graham will consider other acquisitions that can bring Alliant into new marketing channels or add “unique data technology or insights.”
Alliant’s expansion plans
Inverness Graham is replacing marketing services company Dominion Enterprises as Alliant’s majority investor and will assume control of Alliant’s board of directors. Inverness Graham is “actively looking for a few board advisors now” and will likely draw candidates from Monfradi Dunn’s network of ad industry peers, Morrissey said.
The companies declined to disclose the deal price. They also declined to share the amount of funding raised to date by Alliant.
But to provide a sense of Alliant’s business trajectory and the opportunity presented by the acquisition, Morrissey said Alliant has been “growing by double digits for a few years and outpacing the market.” Alliant’s recent work to build its CTV offering in partnership with The Trade Desk and others was another differentiator, he said.
He added that Inverness Graham is not solely focused on mar tech acquisitions, although it had looked at acquiring other companies in the space that were ultimately scooped up by other investors in recent years. And it’s not done shopping around.
From Alliant’s perspective, the acquisition adds Inverness Graham’s financial backing and strategic growth expertise, Monfradi Dunn said. That backing will allow Alliant to expand its sales team, which is an immediate goal, she said.
Alliant currently has just under 100 employees, and it’s looking at “across the board expansion,” not subtraction, Monfradi Dunn said.
“We don’t make money by shrinking companies, typically,” Morrissey added. Inverness Graham’s strategy is more about ensuring that companies it invests in are putting their resources where the biggest opportunities are, he said, and in the firm’s assessment, Alliant has been doing that already.
After Oracle Advertising and beyond
The acquisition was in the works since February 27 and was officially closed on October 30. That timeline means Alliant’s interest in selling predates Oracle Advertising’s June announcement that it would cease operations.
But Alliant isn’t concerned about Oracle Advertising’s shutdown dinging its growth trajectory. In fact, the shutdown has been a tailwind for Alliant, a company spokesperson said.
“While Oracle was a top exchange for Alliant, the team quickly worked to reroute the spend and usage through a handful of our other platform and exchange partners, and have seen those revenue streams pick up since the final closure of Oracle in September,” the Alliant spokesperson said. “Additionally, Oracle operated an audience program for direct mail and supplied several data licenses in market, which drove a large customer base in need of replacement data to Alliant.”
Although Oracle Advertising left behind a big hole in the market to fill, Alliant is not planning on becoming a replacement. However, “we are working with some key partners who are taking advantage of [Oracle’s] absence in the space to provide some new offerings,” the Alliant spokesperson said.
The timing of the announcement also had nothing to do with the election and its possible implications for oversight by the Federal Trade Commission, Monfradi Dunn said.
The FTC had signaled it was looking to take a harder stance against the use of PII for advertising purposes under chair Lina Khan, an appointee of outgoing President Joe Biden.
“The Republicans are more open to commerce and open to less regulation, so that’s potentially a good thing for Alliant,” Monfradi Dunn said. Before the election, Alliant had already put in the work to be compliant with IAB best practices, the Network Advertising Initiative and Truthset Data Validation, she said, and it has a history of FTC compliance due to its consumer business roots.
The next order of business will be for Alliant and Inverness Graham to set specific growth objectives and “codify what a win looks like together,” Morrissey said. “You might see investments to automate or streamline how the company delivers more of the custom audiences customers are looking for.”
