This week, Vista Equity Partners said it would acquire a majority stake in TripleLift, reportedly investing $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to close in Q2.
$1.4 billion is a big chunk of change – and a big story. In this episode, the AdExchanger team welcomes Ari Lewine, TripleLift cofounder and chief strategy officer, to talk about why TripleLift went with Vista as opposed to other, more disruptive exits.
Now that the native ad exchange is under Vista’s umbrella – the same firm that took in Mediaocean, Integral Ad Science, and Marketo (which it famously flipped) – what’s next for TripleLift? Why would a company that’s already run pretty efficiently – focused on profitability and having raised only $16 million – decide to exit via private equity?
Post-acquisition TripleLift will be able to buy companies itself, and improve its footprint both globally and in CTV. The big screen is an area where Lewine is convinced TripleLift can dominate. With so many ad tech companies already establishing themselves in TV, either through acquisition or wheeling and dealing (The Trade Desk, Magnite, Dataxu, Beeswax), how does TripleLift expect to fit in?
Lewine discusses the strategy and TripleLift’s unique native play in CTV.
