Vista Equity Partners to Acquire AdTech Leader, Integral Ad Science (IAS)

Native & Programmatic AdvertisingBrand Safety

By Sudipto Ghosh On Jun 4, 2018

Vista Equity Partners has Agreed to Acquire Majority Stake in Integral Ad Science, Supporting IAS’s Continued Growth

The leading adtech platform, Integral Ad Science (“IAS”), has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be majority acquired by Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”). Vista is a leading private equity firm focused on investments in software, data, and technology-enabled businesses.

At the time of this announcement, IAS CEO Scott Knoll, said, “Since the beginning, we have recognized the massive potential for digital advertising but also the challenges that undermine its impact.”

Scott added, “With the support from Vista, we will continue to focus on enhancing our verification capabilities to protect our customers’ assets while applying our expertise and data to help our clients to influence more consumers and grow their businesses around the globe.”

“We are thrilled to partner with the IAS team to help the company accelerate investments that boost innovation and growth to meet the needs of customers,” said Brian Sheth, Co-Founder and President of Vista Equity Partners.

Brian added, “Brand Safety, Viewability, and Ad Fraud are serious challenges to marketers and publishers around the globe. We live in a digital world and IAS plays a critical role in enabling brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms to navigate the advertising ecosystem.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York City with offices in thirteen countries, IAS has become the market leader in verification and optimization–ensuring that every digital ad reaches real consumers in brand-appropriate environments, and has the opportunity to be seen by consumers.

Vista is a value-added investor with an extensive track record of helping companies achieve operational, product, and customer service excellence by contributing professional expertise and proven best practices. Vista’s support will further enable IAS’s commitment to drive innovation and solve for the most pressing digital advertising challenges, expanding capabilities into additional advertising channels, and scaling the business into new global markets.

“Our goal at IAS was to find an investment partner that shared our vision and commitment to leveraging our expertise and data to provide valuable products and solutions that our customers depend on,” said IAS Executive Chairman Don Epperson.

Don added, “With Vista’s support, we can continue to scale our business and build solutions that help our clients protect and grow their digital investments.”

IAS investors Accomplice, August Capital, and Sapphire Ventures will remain shareholders.

The transaction is expected to fully close in Q3 2018. Citi is acting as an exclusive financial adviser to Integral Ad Science and Lowenstein Sandler LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, and Feinberg Hanson are its legal advisers. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP provided legal counsel to Vista Equity Partners.

Currently, Integral Ad Science (IAS) is a global software company that empowers the advertising industry to effectively grow the world’s leading brands. IAS Ad Effectiveness solutions protect brands’ digital investments and ensure ads are impactful across all channels. The ad fraud, viewability, and brand safety technology is the foundation of every ad campaign for the leading brands to maximize the ability of every impression to capture consumers’ attention and drive business results on a global scale.