Fort Worth-based company Simpli.fi, provides tools for localized programmatic advertising. The company is dedicated to helping media buying organizations perform more effectively and efficiently.
Simpli.fi’s full suite of mission critical workflow and ad buying software enables agencies and media groups to manage their core operations and execute high ROI media spend through digital ad campaigns. Each month, the company’s innovative CTV and mobile programmatic advertising platform powers over 120,000 campaigns for 30,000 active advertisers.
Now private equity firm, Blackstone Group has announced it’s taking a stake in Simpli.fi, which values the advertising technology platform at about $1.5 billion.
Terms of the deal were not made public, but the investment will be made through Blackstone’s private equity vehicle, joining Simpli.fi’s other major investor, GTCR.
Since the earlier acquisition, GTCR had worked with Simpli.fi’s co-founders Frost Prioleau and Paul Harrison to scale up, targeting independent agencies and local advertisers. Blackstone’s investment will allow the company to accelerate its growth and execute its acquisition strategy as the company captures more business with the shift in local media spending on digital and connected TV, according to the statement.
Frost Prioleau, the CEO and co-founder of Simpli.fi revealed that the company explored numerous options to fund its growth. Prioleau founded Simpli.fi in 2010 with co-founder Paul Harrison. The company currently has 400 employees and serves over 1,400 agencies. Simpli.fi’s products are used in 120,000 advertising campaigns for 30,000 advertisers in a typical month.
“Digital advertising is a high-conviction investment theme at Blackstone and Simpli.fi sits at the intersection of multiple attractive tailwinds, including the continued shift in local media spend to programmatic digital and CTV,” said Blackstone co-head of technology investing Martin Brand in a press release.
The investment came just two months after Bloomberg reported that D & Z Media Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company co-sponsored by Intercontinental Exchange, was in talks to merge with Simpli.fi. The SPAC was seeking to raise new equity to support a transaction that valued the combined entity at $1.5 billion or more.
