David Pakman is a Partner at Venrock, a venture capital firm. AdExchanger.com: Hypothetically speaking, what do you think the experience of being a venture capital investor affords you should you decide to get back into a startup of your own? DP: Well, the best experience for building startups is doing startups, so nothing will prepare […]
Todd Simon is Managing Director, Head of Digital Media at Oppenheimer & Co., an investment banking company. Simon is also on the Strategy Board of sell-side platform Rubicon Project. AdExchanger.com: Given your background in investment banking, what is your take on today’s M&A climate in the ad technology space? TS: We expect a robust M&A […]
Kiran Hebbar is General Partner of Valhalla Partners, a venture capital firm with investments in such companies as JumpTap, Legolas and TidalTV among many others. AdExchanger.com: How did you get started in the venture biz? KH: I was the first person in my family to go to college and am very achievement oriented. I have […]
Chris Fralic is Managing Partner of First Round Capital, an early-stage investment company. In an update of his interview a year ago, Fralic recently spoke to AdExchanger.com about the investment climate and the digital advertising ecosystem. AdExchanger.com: In retrospect, what has surprised you about last year’s acquisition of Invite Media by Google? CF: I’m impressed […]
Two weeks ago, Adobe Systems acquired data management provider Demdex in a deal facilitated in part by boutique investment bank, LUMA Partners. Read about the deal. LUMA Partners’ Terence Kawaja (maker of his well-known ad tech ecosystem map/”eye chart”) discussed the acquisition and its ramifications. AdExchanger.com: Given LUMA Partners advisory services in the Demdex sale […]
Petsky Prunier provided investment banking services in today’s announced acquisition of ClearSaleing by GSI Commerce. Sanjay Chadda, Partner & Managing Director at Petsky Prunier discussed the transaction. AdExchanger.com: How long was the deal in the making? What’s your view on M&A momentum currently? SC: As a high profile company and given its #1 ranking in […]
Updating the old slide from only this past October, Terence Kawaja of LUMA Partners has released a brand, new update of his ad tech ecosystem map- and a new video! Kawaja promises that this new ad ecosystem map has: More logos (up to 245)! More categories! Color-coded categories! And, acquired companies denoted! Click To Download […]
Ken Allen is Senior Vice President, Blackstone Advisory Partners L.P., an advisory and investment firm. AdExchanger.com: First, can you give a quick background on you, Blackstone and your responsibilities today? KA: Blackstone is one of the world’s leading advisory and investment firms. The firm was originally founded in 1985 as a boutique M&A advisory firm […]
Investment banking firm LUMA Partners – led by Terence Kawaja – announced that Brian Andersen, who recently headed corp development at Omniture, is joining LUMA Partners and opening the company’s Palo Alto office. Andersen discussed his new role and his view of the advertising landscape. AdExchanger.com: Why get into the investment banking business now? BA: […]
Terence Kawaja of LUMA Partners has provided a revised version of his ubiquitous display ad tech landscape chart. Download it here. Kawaja will be discussing how this landscape might evolve going forward at several conferences in NYC including IAB MIXX at 10:30 am on Monday 9/27 and at OMMA Global at 9:45 am on Tuesday […]
From his recent “Ignite” presentation at a Google Zeitgeist event, investment banker Terence Kawaja of LUMA Partners breaks down the key levers driving the digital media industry (data, data, data) as well as the types of companies which will be involved in this ecosystem going forward. For those deep in the industry, you may know […]
Seth Levine is a co-founder and managing director of Foundry Group, an early stage technology venture firm based in Boulder, Colorado. AdExchanger.com: Why get into the venture capital side of the business? Do you ever get the entrepreneurial “itch”? SL: I first got into venture capital about 10 years ago and I love my job. […]
Dan Boberg is President of Tallwave, a digital business accelerator. AdExchanger.com: Where do you see Tallwave fitting in the venture capital, angel and seed investing world? Is it competitive to these silos? Is it similar to Betaworks, for example? DB: Tallwave is a digital business accelerator that combines traditional consulting practices and start-up incubation services […]
Terence Kawaja recently announced that he will be leaving investment banking firm GCA Savvian to start his own firm, LUMA Partners. Kawaja discussed the new firm and his strategy with AdExchanger.com. AdExchanger.com: You have suggested investment banking needs disruption? Why? TK: Fundamentally, I think some aspects of the banking model are broken. Most bankers effectively […]
Andrew Weissman is founder and COO at Betaworks, which invests in and operates Internet and digital media companies. AdExchanger.com: There’s been a lot of good buzz about Betaworks recently. Why do you think that’s the case? AW: Luck? Right time at the right place? Our companies speak for themselves; to the extent there is attention […]
Gil Beyda leads early-stage investment group Genacast Ventures, a part of Comcast Interactive Capital. Genacast Ventures invested in demand-side platform Invite Media prior to being acquired by Google as announced earlier this month. Beyda spoke to AdExchanger.com about the deal as well as momentum in the space. AdExchanger.com: Were you surprised that Invite Media sold […]
For last week’s Digital Media Summit, GCA Savvian’s Terence Kawaja (maker of “A Few Good DSPs“) mashed up a music video version of Nickelback’s “Rockstar” with a range of technology and media “stars” in a sunnier update to his video from last year called Mad Avenue Blues. Do you recognize all the faces of “Tech […]
Entrepreneur and writer of the Cogblog, Brent Halliburton, has created a new type of ecosystem map showing the interconnected web of funding for ad tech companies and organizes it by broad, functional groups. Halliburton tells AdExchanger.com that he used historical data from angel investor Jerry Neumann, AdExchanger.com and TechCrunch’s Crunchbase to show “every investor that […]
Satya Patel is a Partner at Battery Ventures, a venture capital and private equity investment firm. AdExchanger.com: Battery Ventures has been around since the ’80s as a venture and private equity firm. Looking at a high level, can you take us through some of the strategy pivots the firm has made in regards to digital […]
The research arm of DeSilva & Phillips recently published a paper called “Ad Exchanges, RTB and the Future of Online Advertising” about the fast-moving, digital advertising ecoystem. You can download it here. Jay C. MacDonald, Partner, DeSilva + Phillips, discussed the research paper and today’s M&A environment. AdExchanger.com: For DeSilva & Phillips, what were the […]
Matt Nichols is a Principal at Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm. AdExchanger.com: Highland Capital Partners has a rich history of venture investment in the ad tech space. What sets it apart from other VC firms in the space? MN: Highland has been a long-time investor in the ad tech space from the early […]
Chris Fralic is Managing Partner of First Round Capital, an early-stage investment company. AdExchanger.com: It seems like First Round is everywhere – ok, maybe not everywhere, but you all are invested in quite a few companies at an early stage. What’s the method to the madness? CF: Yes we are busy, and we do think […]
Dom Vidal is a partner at Index Ventures, which backs – among others – OpenX, Criteo and Adconion, an ad network. AdExchanger.com: What sets Index Ventures apart from other venture firms? DV: At Index, we invest in technology and life science companies from early through to the growth stage of their development. We’re global in […]
The funding hit parade has not abated as Boson-based, OwnerIQ, a targeting platform that uses ownership data points to effect client campaigns, and Bizo, an online B2B advertising company that uses its “bizographic” magic to target b2b audiences across inventory sources. CEO Jay Habegger told AdExchanger.com that this this funding round wasn’t as hard as […]
Jeff Crowe is Managing Partner of Norwest Venture Partners. AdExchanger.com: With investments in Brand.net and Turn, obviously Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) appears bullish on the digital media buying space. What drove NVP to invest in each of these companies? JC: Overall, we have been bullish on the digital advertising space for several years and continue […]
