Vista Equity Partners has agreed to acquire a majority interest in Mediaocean, a provider of software used by the advertising industry. Michael Donovan, the executive chairman of Mediaocean, will continue as a board member and will retain the remaining equity in Mediaocean. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2015.
Mediaocean software automates advertising workflow – from planning and buying, to analyzing and optimizing, to invoicing and payments. The software has cross-media capability and can be used for both traditional and digital media. Mediaocean software serves more than 80,000 users across advertisers, agencies, broadcasters and publishers. The company was formed in 2012 through the merger of Donovan Data Systems and MediaBank LLC, which were led by Michael Donovan and Bill Wise, respectively. The company is headquartered in New York with six additional offices worldwide (www.Mediaocean.com).
“Michael and Bill’s combined vision and know-how have built a mission-critical and integrated platform that makes Mediaocean the best-in-industry partner for their customers to stay competitive,” said Robert Smith, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Vista Equity Partners. “Together we can strengthen and expand Mediaocean’s existing solutions while pursuing exciting new growth opportunities in a dynamic and ever-evolving industry.”
Vista intends to accelerate the growth of the company and increase product innovation. “Four years ago we created Mediaocean with the goal of providing the industry with an open platform to easily integrate campaigns across all traditional and digital media. I am truly proud of our growth and progress to date and believe that working together with Vista will allow us to continue to build on this success,” said Mr. Donovan. “When Vista approached us, we were impressed by its strategic vision. They operate more like an enterprise software holding company than a classic private equity firm with nearly 200 employees — most of whom are operators, not finance professionals.”
Vista Equity Partners has more than $14 billion in committed capital and makes equity investments in enterprise software businesses and technology-enabled services companies. The firm was founded in 2000 and has offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Austin (www.vistaequitypartners.com).
“Vista’s investment is the next great milestone for Mediaocean and presents a significant opportunity to continue to build on our success, and truly advance the marketplace forward,” said Bill Wise, CEO of Mediaocean. “Our vision has always been to provide advertisers, agencies, broadcasters and publishers with a top-tier, converged advertising ecosystem. Partnering with Vista will allow us to accelerate progress in achieving this goal, while solidifying our leadership in the industry.”
2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-29-15