NEW YORK — It calls itself a technology company “engineered for modern TV advertising.” As of today, it is poised to get a huge investment courtesy of the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
As a result, a CEO change is taking place.
A $300 million investment in Madhive has been agreed upon, and the “significant equity investment” comes as Madhive’s connected TV ad software platform takes the driver’s seat in shepherding the television business’ growth in streaming — primarily through key broadcast TV clients such as FOX TV Stations, TEGNA and The E.W. Scripps Co.
The partnership, Madhive says, will enable it to further accelerate the growth and adoption of its Connected TV platform — most notably within the local advertising market. But, it will allow Madhive to expand into new channels such as national/direct-to-consumer advertisers and retail media networks that may be looking to modernize and scale their Connected TV offerings.
Madhive was founded in 2016 with an original mission of “transforming” the $360 billion digital TV advertising industry under the leadership of Adam Helfgott and Tom Bollich, “serial entrepreneurs” from outside the ad-tech space who envisioned “a more efficient and streamlined way to build for the nascent CTV industry across both the supply and demand side.”
It is RBR+TVBR‘s editorial policy to not use “CTV” when discussing Connected TV to avoid confusion with Bell Media’s CTV broadcast network in Canada.
“Since inception, Madhive has been on a mission to modernize and simplify the ad-tech ecosystem. We purpose-built the Madhive platform in anticipation of the growth of streaming TV — investing in engineering, technology, and infrastructure,” said Helfgott. “Our growth stems from collaborating with partners to solve a host of their unique requirements. Through our fully end-to-end tech stack for TV advertising, media sellers and advertisers have the flexibility and tools to reach streaming audiences efficiently at scale.”
Madhive uses a self-service platform that includes applications for planning, targeting, activating, and measuring programmatic TV campaigns.
“Madhive believes in extensive collaboration to move the industry forward, and we are excited to partner with Goldman Sachs to fuel our next chapter of growth,” Madhive President Spencer Potts said.
Upon closing of the transaction, Helfgott will transition to the role of Strategic Advisor and Chairman of the Board; Potts will become Madhive’s CEO.
“We have been deeply impressed with Madhive’s growth and success in the local CTV advertising market within just seven years since its inception,” said Leonard Seevers, a Partner and Co-Head of Technology, Media and Telecom investments in the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs. “We are incredibly excited to partner with the Madhive team to drive long-term growth and value creation together.”
Joon Park, a Managing Director in the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs, added, “We believe Madhive’s purpose-built, end-to-end CTV platform which enables hyper-local precision targeting at national scale is truly differentiated within the ad-tech ecosystem. We see tremendous growth ahead in the company’s existing and adjacent markets and look forward to supporting Madhive to further accelerate the company’s journey.”
Madhive is headquartered in New York and has approximately 200 employees, with headcount expected to increase by 20% in 2023, it says.
Most recently, Madhive hired the former Google and Pinterest executive, Jon Kaplan, as Chief Revenue Officer. “Kaplan has extensive expertise in building and scaling large enterprises in the digital advertising and technology categories,” Madhive says.
In January, Madhive also hired the former Roku and Hulu executive, Kristin Wnuk, as SVP of Sales and the former Affirm and Capital One Software executive, Darien Ford, as Chief Technology Officer.
Latham & Watkins is serving as legal counsel to Madhive; Weil, Gotshal & Manges is serving as legal counsel to Goldman Sachs.
The Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs has invested over $90 billion of equity capital in over 900 companies globally since its inception in 1986.
