Vista Equity Partners, a privately owned equity firm, is all set to buy a majority of stakes of a digital ad measurement firm, Integral Ad Science (IAS). The company was founded in the year 2009 and since then, it has worked with top companies like HP Inc., Citibank, and Verizon Communications to help them enhance the effectiveness of their ads. IAS ensures that the marketers do not run their ads on sites that contain obnoxious content. It also ensures that the advertisements are clicked by the real users and not by the computerized robots.
The Chief Executive of IAS, Scott Knoll told to the reporters that they want to offer better services to the buyers, advertisers, and sellers. He exclaimed that the merger with Vista will garner operational excellence as well as enhanced resources and capital so they can help the marketers to measure more types of media and expand their business reach.
As per reports, IAS has over 600 employees and collected revenues of more than 140 million USD. The chief investors include Sapphire Ventures, August Capital, Accomplice and Pelion Venture Partners.
Vista is one of the major investors in ad marketing and tech companies. The company acquired Marketo, a martech firm, in the year 2016 for 1.8 billion USD. It bought a majority of stakes of Mediaocean, an advertising company in the year 2015.
Brian Sheth, the president and co-founder of Vista Equity Partners, told that he looks brand safety, ad fraud, and viewability as serious challenges for the global publishers and marketers. He added that this merger will help in meeting the needs of the digital marketers.
The deal between the two companies is likely to take place in the third quarter of the year.