• MediaMath

  Participated · Debt Financing · Jun 2017

  MediaMath provides enterprise software that enables over 9,500 marketers in 42 countries to deliver personalized digital advertising across mobile, video, audio, social, native, digital out of home and Advanced TV formats. The company operates a Demand Side Platform (DSP) and a Data Management Platform (DMP) used daily to launch, analyze and optimize campaigns. MediaMath was founded in 2007 and is led by CEO Joe Zawadzki, with offices in 17 cities worldwide and headquartered in New York City. It raised $225M in new financing that brought total capital invested to over $500M. The company intends to use the funds, delivered in two tranches, to pursue both organic and inorganic growth initiatives. Management specifically plans to accelerate expansion of its DSP and DMP. MediaMath builds tools and data infrastructure to enable automated ad buying and programmatic advertising. The company works with all of the major ad holding companies and now has nearly 700 employees. Management says the new financing will fund continued growth and provide flexibility around future equity raises. CFO Stacey Bain framed the credit facility as a way to refinance existing debt and preserve optionality on timing and structure of any future equity round. CEO Joe Zawadzki emphasized the partnership with the lending banks as strategic support for the company’s scale and evolving supply chain. Leadership also stated that MediaMath is currently choosing to remain private and will only explore an IPO if and when it makes sense for the company. MediaMath offers tools for ad-buying, data management, and other aspects of digital marketing through its marketing platform. The company reported triple-digit year-over-year growth, which investors cited when backing the deal. It raised more than $175 million in additional funding, made up of a $73.5 million Series C equity round and a $105 million debt facility. The Series C was led by Spring Lake Equity Partners, with participation from Akamai Technologies, Safeguard Scientifics, Catalyst Investors, and Observatory Capital. This round is a substantial step up from the $14 million Series B it raised in 2011. Spring Lake said it was drawn to MediaMath’s leading industry position and best-in-class marketing platform. MediaMath operates a platform that manages web advertising for clients, described in the article as a "Bloomberg terminal for marketing," and provides ad agencies with robust analytics to enable more targeted ad buys. The company is three years old and based in New York. It recently acquired creative provider Adroit Interactive. CEO Joe Zawadzki said the firm plans to use the new capital for international expansion and opportunistic tactical acquisitions. Financially, MediaMath announced a $14M Series B and had raised $12.5M in debt plus VC the prior August. Competitors mentioned include Turn, Invite Media (acquired by Google), [x+1], and Trigit. MediaMath operates an automated buying platform that gives agencies a common interface and workflow, a data management layer integrating marketer and third-party data, PhD-designed algorithms for bid optimization, and back-office services. The platform connects to major supply sources including Yahoo! RightMedia, Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange, Microsoft AdECN and Facebook, and serves billions of highly targeted ads per month on behalf of more than twenty top-tier agencies. The company said it will use the financing to fund technology research and product development, executive and staff recruitment, tactical acquisitions, and geographic expansion. MediaMath describes itself as the first demand-side media trading platform and emphasizes performance, research and precise targeting as competitive advantages. The article notes the company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in New York.

• Silent Circle

  Led · Series C · Jul 2016

  Silent Circle builds encrypted communications software and produced a security-focused Android smartphone called the Blackphone. The company has shifted from a prosumer hardware focus to an enterprise privacy platform combining software services such as Silent Phone secure calling, messaging and file sharing, encrypted calling plans that extend secure calling to non-subscribers, and a web-based admin console for BYOD management. After buying out its Blackphone hardware partner the first-generation device underperformed, forcing the company to rely more on its software business and cut operational costs, including significant staff reductions. Key leadership changes include co-founder Jon Callas departing for Apple and interim CEO Matt Neiderman (formerly general counsel), while Mike Janke remains chairman; other senior employees have also left. Silent Circle has been involved in litigation with former partner Geeksphone over an alleged $5M non-payment; the company says it intends to continue its claim and defend against Geeksphone's claim. The company says new financing will be used to eliminate debts and to invest in product development, customer service, business development, and marketing. Silent Circle develops privacy-first encrypted communications software and the Blackphone line of hardened Android devices (PrivatOS). The company says it has agreed to buy out its hardware JV partner Geeksphone to take 100% ownership of SGP Technologies and the Blackphone product set, citing operational efficiencies and an integrated product roadmap. Silent Circle plans to lean into enterprise sales and will unveil an "enterprise privacy ecosystem" using ZRTP cryptographic protocols at Mobile World Congress. The company confirmed it has raised $50 million in new financing to fuel its next stage of growth. Silent Circle has previously announced plans for additional hardware (a Blackphone tablet) as part of its portfolio. It is unclear whether Geeksphone will continue manufacturing hardware under license following the buyout. Silent Circle pivoted from encrypted email to secure telephony after the NSA revelations and is building Blackphone, a security-hardened Android handset developed with Spanish partner Geeksphone. Blackphone bundles privacy-focused apps (Silent Phone, Silent Text), secure cloud storage, a VPN-based non‑trackable search, and a wi‑fi anonymizer to lower barriers to adopting security. The device went up for pre-order and is due to launch in June; pre-orders have ‘‘exceeded expectations’’ though no figures were disclosed. Silent Circle is relocating its global headquarters from the Caribbean to Switzerland and retains offices near Washington, D.C. and in London, plus data centers in Canada and Switzerland, with employees staged around the world. The company says it will use the new funding to meet ‘‘overwhelming demand’’ for Blackphone and to accelerate growth in the secure communications market.

No current team members are available.