DoubleVerify, a provider of digital media measurement software and analytics, has become the latest ad tech company to draw interest from the private equity sector as Providence Equity Investment has agreed to make a major investment in the New York based company. The deal, whose terms have not been disclosed, will see current DoubleVerify CEO and President Wayne Gattinella and his management team continue in their leadership roles.
“Providence Equity has a demonstrated ability to partner with unique data companies to realize accelerated growth and customer adoption,” said Mr. Gattinella. “With Providence’s sector expertise and strategic insight, DoubleVerify is well positioned to capitalize on the outsized set of market opportunities and to launch new services that define the future of digital advertising engagement.”
DoubleVerify, founded in 2008, was an innovator in the field of brand safety, an issue that’s hit the mainstream news recently, most noticeably with advertisers becoming concerned with their adverts being played alongside questionable content on YouTube. As third party measurement has become a requirement for most brand advertisers, DoubleVerify have streamlined their services into what they call the ‘DV Authentic Impression’, a measure which helps companies to ensure their adverts are viewable, fraud-free and in line with brand safety requirements.
“As a leader in an increasingly important space, DoubleVerify is a dynamic, high-growth company with significant opportunities before it,” said Davis Noell, managing director of Providence Equity Partners. Citing his belief that DoubleVerify’s full value has “yet to be unlocked”, he hopes his firm’s investment will help accelerate DV’s growth strategy.
To help spur this growth, digital marketing and advertising executive and former CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group Laura Desmond will be appointed as Lead Director to the DoubleVerify Board of Directors. “I’ve spent nearly two decades working alongside the world’s largest brands and have seen first-hand the need for third party measurement from all digital media and social platforms,” said Ms. Desmond. “Today media quality is the number one issue impacting digital ad performance and DV helps to deliver the transparency clients need to make smart and safe advertising investments.”
With ad tech companies Applovin and Sizmek also have been acquired by Orient Hontai Capital and Vector Capital respectively within the last year, ad tech is proving to be an increasingly attractive avenue for private equity firms looking to invest.
