Madhive today announced the ad tech firm has received a $300 million investment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The deal follows an earlier $7 million investment in Madhive, whose revenues last year came to $125 million. A meeting at CES this year led to the investor acquiring a significant minority stake in the business, valued just under $1 billion.
Upon closure of the deal, Adam Helfgott will step down as CEO and become Chairman of the Board. Madhive president Spencer Potts will take over as CEO.
Local business
Founded in 2016, the New York-based company enables broadcasters to sell CTV inventory to local advertisers, with clients including Tegna, E.W. Scripps, Fox Television Stations and TelevisaUnivision.
The firm uses blockchain infrastructure to power its data management platform, DSP and analytics service. Its device graph houses viewer information from ACR and geolocation data based on ZIP codes, which advertisers can use to target hyperlocal audiences. In 2021 the company invested $100 million in Google Cloud technology, leveraging its machine learning capabilities to automatically move ad budgets into higher-performing placements.
The funding will be used to expand the business, increasing headcount by 20 percent by the end of the year, while accelerating the company’s aims of working with direct-to-consumer streaming services and national CTV companies. Madhive is additionally seeking acquisitions to bring measurement and attribution data into its tech stack, as it looks to attract more D2C advertisers and retail media networks.
The news follows a string of high-profile appointments at Madhive, including former Roku and Hulu executive Kristin Wnuk as SVP Sales, Capital One Software’s Darien Ford as CTO, and former Pinterest and FalconX CRO John Kaplan.
“I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter as Chairman of the Board,” Madhive founder and CEO Adam Helfgott told VideoWeek. “This significant investment not only validates our mission and vision, but also provides us with the resources to continue to disrupt the television advertising space as streaming adoption continues to accelerate. As we enter this exciting phase of growth, my focus remains on fostering a culture of innovation and delivering exceptional products that exceed our clients’ expectations.”
The Goldman rush
The deal marks the latest investment by Goldman Sachs in TV and video ad tech, having recently poured $325 million into measurement firm iSpot, and $30 million in CTV specialist Innovid.
“We have been deeply impressed with Madhive’s growth and success in the local CTV advertising market within just seven years since its inception,” said Goldman Sachs partner Leonard Seevers.
“We believe Madhive’s purpose-built, end-to-end CTV platform which enables hyper-local precision targeting at national scale is truly differentiated within the ad tech ecosystem,” added Goldman Sachs managing director Joon Park. “We see tremendous growth ahead in the company’s existing and adjacent markets and look forward to supporting Madhive to further accelerate the company’s journey.”
