Digital marketing is going mainstream, as the advertising industry gets more sophisticated, programmatic, and moves beyond search. Automated advertising provider Rubicon Project announced yesterday that it has acquired Toronto-based Chango for $122 million, absorbing the company’s technology and talent. Rubicon also notably acquired Toronto-based Shiny Ads last fall.
The consolidation of the two companies spells accelerated growth for everyone involved. “We’re acquiring Chango, because Chango brings access to $35 billion of intent-marketing spend to Rubicon marketplace,” said Frank Addante, CEO and founder of Rubicon. “Chango accelerates our growth roadmap by more than a year, which in turn accelerates the adoption of direct-order automation and overall advertising automation.”
The ambitious merger brings intent marketing technology to premium advertisers, at scale.
“Chango built impressive technologies at commercial scale, and the strategic value was clear. This acquisition is about the future opportunities our combined companies to grow an advertising market that desperately requires automation,” continued Addante.
Chango, named Canada’s fastest growing company by Deloitte and widely rumoured to consider an IPO, will now be rolled into Rubicon, along with much of its CPC and CPA advertising technology still under development.
Chango founder and CEO, Chris Sukornyk, was able to underscore the motivation for the partnership in an interview with BetaKit.
“Rubicon Project has been a long-time partner,” he said. “Ultimately by joining a larger company, with greater resources, we can accelerate our vision. Culturally (and this is very important) Rubicon Project is a perfect fit – we share a passion for technology and the automation of advertising. We happen to be on two different sides of the same industry (supply side vs. demand side), but by coming together we can build a unified end-to-end solution for engaging consumers throughout the entire path to purchase.”
The ambitious merger brings intent marketing technology to premium advertisers, at scale. Chango brings shiny new technology, highly specialized talent and clients. Rubicon brings maturity, reach, and scale. Addante indicated that Chango’s brand of real-time intent-based marketing, a combination of keyword, contextual targeting and retargeting, could accelerate the overall growth of marketing automation market.