Liftoff, a global platform for performance-driven mobile application marketing optimization and Vungle, a global platform for mobile application discovery and activation, has announced on August 24 that they had reached a final agreement to merge.
The new company objective is to tackle the entire growth cycle of mobile apps, from user acquisition and engagement to marketing, analytics and monetization of apps.
Liftoff and Vungle merge scheduled to be close by the end of September in the wake of a vital consolidation of the advertising technology industry.
In terms of demand, Liftoff technology helps mobile application marketing specialists acquire and retain users, delivering 2 billion ads daily around the globe on more than 500,000 mobile applications thanks to machine learning, predictive and creative optimization.
As on the supply side, Vungle runs a platform that allows over 100,000 mobile application developers and publishers to monetize their apps. On top, provide an influencer marketing platform with over 15,000 content creators.
By merging the two companies, the strategy is to build an end-to-end platform that enhances mobile advertising efficiency. And provide large scale and technology for developers to build, announce and monetize their applications. The merge will accelerate the main growth initiatives of the two companies in line with the announcement.
Liftoff CEO Mark Ellis will head the joint venture as CEO, while Vungle CEO Jeremy Bondy will assume the position of President. The agreement builds on prior majority investment in both companies from private equity funds managed by Blackstone. In 2019, Blackstone acquired a majority interest in Vungle for over $750 million, and in December 2020, Blackstone said it was investing almost $400 million in Liftoff.
The latest merger draws attention to Blackstone’s focus on digital advertising technology and content, as announced and followed by other investments made by its flagship private equity funds, including Bumble, Simpli.fi. and Ancestry. Blackstone will continue as a crucial stakeholder in the new joint venture.
Meanwhile, mobile marketing and monetization companies are undergoing a consolation round this year, as evidenced by Vungle snapping up a GameRefinery mobile analysis company. While controlling both demand and supply, the new joint venture can turn to application developers who don’t want to rely on ad-tech giants like Facebook and Google.
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