MediaMath Joins The Billion Dollar Unicorn Club

According to a recent report on the global DSP (Demand-Side Platform) market, the industry is estimated to grow 31% annually to $50.5 billion the year 2025 from $5.7 billion in 2017. Billion Dollar Unicorn club member MediaMath is a rapidly growing member in the space.

MediaMath’s Offerings

New York-based MediaMath was founded in 2007 by Erich Wasserman, Greg Williams, and Joe Zawadzki. The company was set up to provide digital advertising media and data management technology solutions to advertisers globally. It was the first player that developed the software for real-time media buying. By leveraging its global infrastructure, partner network and a quantitative approach to advertising, MediaMath has managed to deliver a platform that automates execution and optimizes advertising interactions across addressable media.

Today, MediaMath operates a demand-side platform that lets advertisers buy ads online through an automated system and also operates a data management platform that improves one-to-one customer conversations by measuring success and optimizing delivery of advertisements using machine learning capabilities. It provides digital advertising to over 4,000 advertisers globally including names like PitneyBowes, eBay, L.L. Bean, and Ogilvy, to name a few.

According to a recent magic quadrant report for the ad tech sector published by Gartner, MediaMath was ranked a leader for its product vision, AI capabilities, and transparency into the media buying process. Not only does it have a proprietary Brain algorithm as its AI engine, but it is also working with IBM to help build the capability to extract predictive signals from exposure to large amounts of data, including unstructured data for making better bidding decisions. 

MediaMath’s Financials

MediaMath is privately held and does not disclose its financials. Its annual revenues are estimated to be close to $600 million and profitability figures are widely unknown. It has raised over $607 million in funding so far including $280 million through debt financing from Goldman Sachs and Santander Bank. Its fund investors include Searchlight Capital, Catalyst Investors, and Observatory Capital. Its last round of funding was held in July this year when it raised $225 million in a round led by Searchlight Capital Partners at a billion dollar valuation. MediaMath plans to use some of these funds to pay back loans, buy out an earlier investor Safeguard Scientifics, and invest in market expansion. The company has not disclosed plans of going public, but a year ago, it had mentioned how it enjoys “operating privately”.

The global ad tech and MarTech markets are going through consolidation. Earlier this year, another ad tech player AppNexus was bought out by AT&T for an estimated $1.6 billion. Then, there was a private equity buyout of Integral Ad Science, formerly known as AdSafe Media by Vista Equity Partners, and data aggregator Acxiom’s marketing division was bought by Interpublic Group for $2.3 billion. Vista Equity Partners had also acquired MarTech player Marketo back in 2016 for $1.8 billion. The other leaders in the space include Google, Adobe, and Adform. In this atmosphere of consolidation, it remains to be seen whether MediaMath will be acquired by other players or will manage to remain independent.

I would like to know how the users rate MediaMath’s products? What are the features that you believe will make MediaMath indispensable to your advertising needs?

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