Verve Group Acquires Mobile DSP Dataseat

Verve Group, a global consumer-first advertising suite and a subsidiary of Media Games Invest (MGI) acquired mobile DSP Dataseat. The latter is an adtech company that provides app developers with the ability to manage in-house mobile app campaigns.

Why Dataseat?

Philippson, CEO of Dataseat explains the company was founded on the thesis that digital advertising would become more privacy-compliant. Hence, they built the world’s first fully transparent user acquisition DSP based entirely on contextual signals, without any reliance on device IDs or user profiling. It gives advertisers full control, transparency, and adaptability over their campaigns in a world where identifiers such as IDFA are deprecated. 

It provides app developers with tools and software to manage and control their own user acquisition, retargeting, and cross-promotion campaigns. Dataseat offers marketers a demand-side platform ( DSP) and unique bidding algorithms based on their customers’ first-party data. 

As reported by Adexchanger, the rationale behind the acquisition is  “Privacy”. Ionut Ciobotaru, co-CEO of Verve Group said,

“The future is less about identity and more about group measurement.”

ATOM and Beemray are Verve Group’s investments in privacy. Anonymous Targeting on Mobile, its first homegrown solution, creates cohorts using on-device data instead of identity-based targeting. Additionally, it acquired contextual targeting company Beemray last year.

Interesting Read: 6 Data Privacy Trends To Look Out For In 2022!

An accretive acquisition, accelerating the Flywheel

As part of MGI’s advertising software platform, the Dataseat DSP will have direct access to MGI’s strong first-party content and data, including a games portfolio with more than 800 million users and its SDK used in 20,000 apps with 2 billion users. Verve Group has access to an extensive SDK installation base. The alignment of Dataseat with Verve Group enhances Smaato and Hybid SDKs, which have huge global install bases.

In a privacy-first world, mobile DSPs are increasingly urging publishers to integrate their SDK because direct access is a strategic advantage. Adexchanger quoted Philippson, CEO of Dataseat,

“It used to be that whoever had the most data would win even if they had suboptimal creative, because you knew exactly what a person likes, so the creative didn’t matter as much.”

“But if you don’t know anything about the individual, creative becomes very important, and if you have control of the SDK you have ultimate control over the creative.”

Philipson noted that it was important for Dataseat to maintain independence and invest further in providing world-class solutions for its existing and new clients.

“We didn’t want to join a gaming company that would take our technology for their single use. Verve Group has a vast ecosystem with some of the world’s top names of advertising technology under its roof. We’re eager to demonstrate how we can help all of our clients leverage this opportunity to drive further growth.”

MGI stated that the acquisition will enable the company to empower its DSP segment which currently accounts for 7% of its total revenue. Sameer Sondhi, co-CEO of Verve Group said,

“Dataseat has exhibited bona fide expertise working with gaming companies, and that sweet spot dovetails with Verve Group’s growing strength of integrating the worlds of gaming and advertising, together. Working with Dataseat will allow us to accentuate this opportunity so our clients will benefit.”

The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. All 25 Dataseat’s employees, including co-founders David Philippson and Paul Hayton, will join Verve Group.

Interesting Read: 5 Ad Industry Trends That Are Likely To Unveil in 2022!