Leading private asset investor will speed up the development of the only independent advertising alternative to GAFAM, supporting the Open Web.

Paris, London & New York, February 27th, 2023 — Equativ, the leading independent ad platform, today confirmed Bridgepoint as its new principal investor. Following record growth in 2022, Equativ reached net recurring revenues of $100 million, achieving year-on-year organic growth of 30% and tripling its revenues over the past three years. This partnership with Bridgepoint will accelerate Equativ’s mission: to help publishers and advertisers thrive in an open, independent Web and compete with the dominant – but increasingly vulnerable – walled gardens. 

Equativ will benefit from Bridgepoint’s expertise in fast-growing tech companies and extended financial capabilities to amplify its growth across core markets (particularly the United States, which already represents 40% of revenues). Thus, Equativ will keep building its expanding tech stack and strongly accelerate both its organic and external growth strategies. The goal is to create one of the top three Supply Side Platforms (SSP) worldwide.

Founded initially as Smart AdServer, the company expanded as an SSP and continued to grow its vertically-integrated solutions with the acquisitions of LiquidM and DynAdmic, as well as investment in Nowtilus – all leading up to the rebrand of the company as Equativ in 2022. The company is now a global and complete adserver, SSP, and media buying solutions providing a simpler, more transparent, and more efficient advertising journey. Equativ fulfills the promise of advertising technology by harmonizing market interests to benefit industry professionals while respecting consumers.

In 2023, Equativ will continue to innovate, streamlining digital media processes and powering advancements that bolster addressable advertising’s impact. Key among the company’s priorities are maintaining and reinforcing the company’s growth in the CTV and video market – which will reach more than $40 billion in revenues in the US in 2025* –  as well as enabling greater data activation in the retail media space. 

Arnaud Créput, CEO and Founder of Equativ comments: “After three consecutive years of strong growth, our partnership with Bridgepoint is a key milestone in Equativ’s history as the digital advertising industry continues to rapidly transform. Our vertically integrated platform is now uniquely positioned to offer publishers and advertisers around the world the ability to execute advertising transactions directly and efficiently, without intermediaries, in a brand-safe and transparent environment. This new chapter with Bridgepoint validates our strategy and positioning and will help to provide additional resources to accelerate our investments and achieve our ambitions.”

Olivier Nemsguern, Head of Bridgepoint Development Capital France comments: “Even amid global economic instability, Equativ’s consistent success demonstrates the considerable and accelerating need for independent technology. We have been especially impressed by its emphasis on fuelling mutual gains for all sides of ad trading and providing greater flexibility, which are becoming crucial market priorities as advertisers, agencies and publishers look to optimize returns and revenues. In that perspective, we look forward to working with the Management as we are convinced that we can bring a lot to Equativ through our international platform, our expertise in buy-and-build and our understanding of the adtech universe. Offering an alternative route to efficient advertising outside of walled gardens, Equativ is aligned with what global markets want and need in this fast-paced industry.”

About Equativ

Equativ is a leading independent adtech platform built to serve the interests of both advertisers and publishers. Equativ provides brand and privacy-safe solutions that empower its clients to achieve maximum impact while respecting the rights of consumers, and combines client expertise and engineering excellence to serve the interests of both the supply-side and demand-side with equal professionalism and technical sophistication.

Headquartered in Paris and New York, Equativ operates globally with a team of more than 550 in 20 offices. Equativ offers the market its own independent ad server, SSP, buyer tools, and media services to fulfill the promise of advertising technology.

Learn more at Equativ.com.

About Bridgepoint Development Capital (BDC)

With a team of 34 investment professionals in Europe (including 12 in Paris), Bridgepoint Development Capital (BDC) is one of the few mid-cap investors able to support the international development of small and mid-sized companies through its nine investment offices and operational teams based in New York, San Francisco and Shanghai. BDC invests between €40m and €150m through its latest fund, BDC IV, which was raised in 2020.

BDC’s portfolio consists of 8 companies to date: Sotralu (2014), Anaveo (2015), PrivateSportShop now Sportscape group (2018), Cyrus and Sendinblue (2020), PlugIn Digital (2021), Cast and Cegos (2022).

About Bridgepoint

Bridgepoint Group plc is a listed international alternative asset manager focused on middle-market companies. With over €38 billion of assets under management, the company has nearly 200 investment professionals covering six sectors (business services, consumer goods, financial services, healthcare, high tech and technology) in Europe, the US and China. Bridgepoint invests with four distinct strategies: Mid-cap, Smid-cap, Growth and Credit.

The Group has been present in France for over 35 years, where it has one of the largest investment teams and a track record of landmark deals.

Learn more at Bridgepoint – Home

*Source: eMarketer