Teachers’ Venture Growth, the late-stage venture and growth investment arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, has led an all-equity round in Toronto-based advertising platform StackAdapt that values the company near $2.5-billion USD.
Intrepid Growth Partners, along with four undisclosed investors, also participated in the round. Launched by ex-Canada Pension Plan Investment Board leader Mark Machin last year, Intrepid said the round marks its first-ever investment.
StackAdapt signalled its intention to go public when it hired CFO Cassandra Hudson in Sept. 2024.
According to The Globe and Mail, the round was mostly secondary as new investors purchased stakes from existing investors at a valuation of roughly $2.5-billion USD. The Globe and Mail also reported that StackAdapt is expected to surpass $500-million USD in revenue and $125-million USD in operating earnings this year. StackAdapt confirmed to BetaKit that the valuation, revenue, and earnings numbers are “within range,” but declined to confirm any secondary component.
StackAdapt said the round comes as it looks to scale its research and development efforts, increase its innovation capacity, and expand its global presence, but declined to disclose to BetaKit how it would use the capital.
The round marks yet another Canadian tech company holding a large secondary round in the past year—joining Wealthsimple, Clio, and Safe Software—in lieu of an initial public offering.
When BetaKit asked StackAdapt if it is looking to go public, a company spokesperson said it’s “within the realm of possibility in the short to medium term,” but the company is still focused on building as a private entity for now.
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StackAdapt previously signalled its intent to go public this past September when it tapped Cassandra Hudson as its new CFO. The company cited the former EngageSmart CFO’s experience in growing technology companies, guiding their strategic acquisitions, and taking them public.
This week’s fundraise follows a previously undisclosed $300-million USD ($429-million CAD) investment made by Summit Partners in 2022 at a valuation of $1-billion USD. StackAdapt also confirmed to BetaKit that the 2022 round valued the company “within the range” of what has been reported but declined to confirm the secondary component.
Founded in 2014 by CEO Vitaly Pecherskiy, CTO Yang Han, and Ildar Shar, StackAdapt says it currently has a global team of more than 1,300 employees across 19 global markets. The company claims its demand-side advertising platform is used by thousands of brands and agencies around the world to help plan, execute, and gather insights from advertising campaigns.
Feature image courtesy StackAdapt via LinkedIn.