In Q4 2015, the digital media sector in New York saw strong investment activity. The largest financing was Jet.com raising $500 million in a Series B round. Overall, e-commerce and digital content saw the most financing activity. There were also three M&A exits, with the largest being Perion Network acquiring Undertone Networks for $180 million. The document provides details on these and other notable financings and M&A transactions in the New York digital media space during Q4 2015.
In Foundation Capital’s new white paper, MarTech and the Decade of the CMO, general partner Ashu Garg outlines how buyer behavior has shifted to create this opportunity. He also outlines the new strategies and technologies marketers will rely on to excel in this new environment and ultimately increase their influence in the C-suite.
Putting the Experience in Digital Customer ExperienceCognizant
As the digital revolution has gained momentum, it has become widely understood that the “digital customer experience” is the key to engage with, delight and monetize customers in the modern world. However, only a miniscule number of companies believe their customers’ current digital experience qualifies as “excellent,” our primary research reveals.
The marketing world’s intense focus on analytics, of late, hasn’t always led to better performance — because, while it’s easy to collect data, it’s difficult to turn it into deep insight. This Insight Center covered content that included a leading practitioner company’s reinvention of market research, a framework for measuring what your customers actually value and will pay for, and a toolkit approach to defining the customer’s “job to be done.”
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
In Foundation Capital’s new white paper, MarTech and the Decade of the CMO, general partner Ashu Garg outlines how buyer behavior has shifted to create this opportunity. He also outlines the new strategies and technologies marketers will rely on to excel in this new environment and ultimately increase their influence in the C-suite.
Putting the Experience in Digital Customer ExperienceCognizant
As the digital revolution has gained momentum, it has become widely understood that the “digital customer experience” is the key to engage with, delight and monetize customers in the modern world. However, only a miniscule number of companies believe their customers’ current digital experience qualifies as “excellent,” our primary research reveals.
The marketing world’s intense focus on analytics, of late, hasn’t always led to better performance — because, while it’s easy to collect data, it’s difficult to turn it into deep insight. This Insight Center covered content that included a leading practitioner company’s reinvention of market research, a framework for measuring what your customers actually value and will pay for, and a toolkit approach to defining the customer’s “job to be done.”
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
What's Next: How brands can capture value, mindset and experiences on their o...Ogilvy Consulting
Brands have long considered the value and prospects of selling directly to consumers. In some instances, marketplaces tampered with those considerations providing quick and efficient ways to reach consumers and sell products with a lower level of effort and barriers to entry. While serving a need to some, marketplaces present their own set of challenges that can be solved by going direct leading companies to either diversify their current channel mix by launching their own DTC or shift their strategy to just DTC which has been supercharged by COVID-19.
[Earley] Building a Successful Digital Transformation RoadmapDuy, Vo Hoang
Digital transformation will be a top priority for boardroom
executives during 2016. Here are some data points:
• 125,000 enterprises expect revenue from their digital
initiatives to increase by 80% by 2020 (Gartner)
• Digital transformation initiatives will more than double by
2020, from 22% to almost 50% (IDC)
• Only 27% of businesses have a coherent digital strategy for
creating customer value in place (Forrester)
Are you ready for digital transformation? Do you have a digital
transformation roadmap? Does it lay a solid foundation for a
successful transition to your future digital business? In order to
succeed, you need to start with a current assessment, identify
gaps and define the actions and resources required to fill those
gaps along the four paths of people, process, technology and
content.
Into the Mainstream: Influencer Marketing in Societyrun_frictionless
TAKUMI surveyed over 3,500 consumers, marketers, and influencers across the UK, US, and Germany to uncover the latest trends in the sector. The report ‘Into the mainstream: Influencer marketing in society’, uncovered divided opinions on what consumers want to see and what brands are willing to engage with influencers on.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
What's Next: Marketing Maturity & How To Achieve ItOgilvy Consulting
If you work in marketing today, you have very likely been thinking about things like rapid technology evolution, changing customer expectations and a dynamic and disruptive marketplace. Most companies we know are thinking about about Modern Marketing, but fewer are achieving the results they need.
In this webinar, we dive deeper into executing Modern Marketing at scale, and why it is crucial in an age where the stakes are raised for the CMO and the entire marketing function.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) present us with novel and efficient ways to solve challenging and persistent problems, particularly when it comes to predictions. Retail, due to its fast moving, trend powered, and fluid nature coupled to an extended logistics chain, relies heavily on making smart predictions. As improvements in AI/ML over the last several years have proliferated, not only in performance advances but deployability, there are exciting openings for experimentation in many domains of the retail value chain
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Digital Monitoring & Reporting
Monitoring conversation, opinion, issue and campaign on Digital Channel.
Providing the Report and simple analysis for the evaluation and planning.
Getting the insight from audience
Digital Maintenance &
Engagement
Develop & Managing the campaign on digital Channel.
Building the awareness and engagement with the target audience.
Supporting the brand for 360 brands campaign
Ctrl-alt-del: Rebooting the Business Model for the Digital AgeCapgemini
Our research with the MIT Sloan Management Review reveals that only 16% of organizations are leveraging digital technologies to develop new business models. Most organizations follow traditional approaches to innovation that focus on new products and services, rather than on business models. However, research suggests that the returns from traditional approaches have been diminishing with time. As Serguei Netessine, Professor at INSEAD Singapore says, “Pharmaceutical companies spend as much as 30% of their revenues on R&D, trying to develop new products or technologies. But the return from this enormous expenditure has been very elusive and it is a common problem across industries.” Business model reinvention can be as good a route as technology, product or service innovations. This research highlight five different approaches that organizations can adopt to reinvent their business model with digital technologies.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & DISRUPTION 2016 - Understanding digital landscape &...Lassi Nummi
Brief overlook on digitalization and digital marketing trough statistics and forecasted trends in 2016 and 2017, focusing on EU area. Data gathered on various sources. Sources mentioned on presentation.
Balance Internet launches second edition of Digital Transformation in B2B eCo...run_frictionless
Balance Internet is a highly specialised eCommerce agency, and our unmatched B2B industry expertise guides our first-class digital delivery process. We are one of the most experienced B2B eCommerce solution providers in the Asia-Pacific region with members of our leadership team working in the space since 1996. With Magento Commerce technology at our core, we create high-performing solutions that harmonise digital ecosystems.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
COVID Accelerated Digital Marketing (CADiM) - 11 Trends For The Future Of Mar...Moses Kemibaro
This is a presentation made by Moses Kemibaro from Dotsavvy at the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) Marketers Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, on the 28th October 2021 on 10 transformational digital trends that are changing the very nature of marketing in Kenya and the rest of Africa. The trends explore the following themes:
1. Websites became true extensions of how businesses market during the COVID-19 pandemic
2. Direct-To- Consumer (DTC) e-commerce took off in Kenya with digital marketing.
3. Social media has become even more central to all things marketing in Kenya & beyond!
4. The always online, always-connected digital-first Kenyan consumer is real!
5. Digital advertising has become essential for businesses of all sizes in Kenya
6. As social media exploded, so did digital influencer marketing in Kenya & globally.
7. Content marketing has become essential for digital marketing in Kenya during COVID-19
8. Social Audio exploded during the pandemic and is redefining social media itself!
9. The importance of first-party data in a privacy-compliant digital marketing context is key!
10. Digital communities are being nurtured on social media, virtual meetings & webinars.
11. Video content hit 82% of all consumer Internet traffic in 2020. Short-form video exploded!
What the hell is digital transformation anyway ! - webinar - 25 april 2018 (1)Good Rebels
What the hell is digital transformation anyway?” a webinar presented by Mark Ralphs, partner at Good Rebels, on the 25th of April 2018.
Learn about the challenge of creating a digital first culture and organisation, the forces driving digital transformation, and practical insights and advice on delivering a transformation programme.
What's Next: How brands can capture value, mindset and experiences on their o...Ogilvy Consulting
Brands have long considered the value and prospects of selling directly to consumers. In some instances, marketplaces tampered with those considerations providing quick and efficient ways to reach consumers and sell products with a lower level of effort and barriers to entry. While serving a need to some, marketplaces present their own set of challenges that can be solved by going direct leading companies to either diversify their current channel mix by launching their own DTC or shift their strategy to just DTC which has been supercharged by COVID-19.
[Earley] Building a Successful Digital Transformation RoadmapDuy, Vo Hoang
Digital transformation will be a top priority for boardroom
executives during 2016. Here are some data points:
• 125,000 enterprises expect revenue from their digital
initiatives to increase by 80% by 2020 (Gartner)
• Digital transformation initiatives will more than double by
2020, from 22% to almost 50% (IDC)
• Only 27% of businesses have a coherent digital strategy for
creating customer value in place (Forrester)
Are you ready for digital transformation? Do you have a digital
transformation roadmap? Does it lay a solid foundation for a
successful transition to your future digital business? In order to
succeed, you need to start with a current assessment, identify
gaps and define the actions and resources required to fill those
gaps along the four paths of people, process, technology and
content.
Into the Mainstream: Influencer Marketing in Societyrun_frictionless
TAKUMI surveyed over 3,500 consumers, marketers, and influencers across the UK, US, and Germany to uncover the latest trends in the sector. The report ‘Into the mainstream: Influencer marketing in society’, uncovered divided opinions on what consumers want to see and what brands are willing to engage with influencers on.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
What's Next: Marketing Maturity & How To Achieve ItOgilvy Consulting
If you work in marketing today, you have very likely been thinking about things like rapid technology evolution, changing customer expectations and a dynamic and disruptive marketplace. Most companies we know are thinking about about Modern Marketing, but fewer are achieving the results they need.
In this webinar, we dive deeper into executing Modern Marketing at scale, and why it is crucial in an age where the stakes are raised for the CMO and the entire marketing function.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) present us with novel and efficient ways to solve challenging and persistent problems, particularly when it comes to predictions. Retail, due to its fast moving, trend powered, and fluid nature coupled to an extended logistics chain, relies heavily on making smart predictions. As improvements in AI/ML over the last several years have proliferated, not only in performance advances but deployability, there are exciting openings for experimentation in many domains of the retail value chain
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Digital Monitoring & Reporting
Monitoring conversation, opinion, issue and campaign on Digital Channel.
Providing the Report and simple analysis for the evaluation and planning.
Getting the insight from audience
Digital Maintenance &
Engagement
Develop & Managing the campaign on digital Channel.
Building the awareness and engagement with the target audience.
Supporting the brand for 360 brands campaign
Ctrl-alt-del: Rebooting the Business Model for the Digital AgeCapgemini
Our research with the MIT Sloan Management Review reveals that only 16% of organizations are leveraging digital technologies to develop new business models. Most organizations follow traditional approaches to innovation that focus on new products and services, rather than on business models. However, research suggests that the returns from traditional approaches have been diminishing with time. As Serguei Netessine, Professor at INSEAD Singapore says, “Pharmaceutical companies spend as much as 30% of their revenues on R&D, trying to develop new products or technologies. But the return from this enormous expenditure has been very elusive and it is a common problem across industries.” Business model reinvention can be as good a route as technology, product or service innovations. This research highlight five different approaches that organizations can adopt to reinvent their business model with digital technologies.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & DISRUPTION 2016 - Understanding digital landscape &...Lassi Nummi
Brief overlook on digitalization and digital marketing trough statistics and forecasted trends in 2016 and 2017, focusing on EU area. Data gathered on various sources. Sources mentioned on presentation.
Balance Internet launches second edition of Digital Transformation in B2B eCo...run_frictionless
Balance Internet is a highly specialised eCommerce agency, and our unmatched B2B industry expertise guides our first-class digital delivery process. We are one of the most experienced B2B eCommerce solution providers in the Asia-Pacific region with members of our leadership team working in the space since 1996. With Magento Commerce technology at our core, we create high-performing solutions that harmonise digital ecosystems.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
COVID Accelerated Digital Marketing (CADiM) - 11 Trends For The Future Of Mar...Moses Kemibaro
This is a presentation made by Moses Kemibaro from Dotsavvy at the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) Marketers Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, on the 28th October 2021 on 10 transformational digital trends that are changing the very nature of marketing in Kenya and the rest of Africa. The trends explore the following themes:
1. Websites became true extensions of how businesses market during the COVID-19 pandemic
2. Direct-To- Consumer (DTC) e-commerce took off in Kenya with digital marketing.
3. Social media has become even more central to all things marketing in Kenya & beyond!
4. The always online, always-connected digital-first Kenyan consumer is real!
5. Digital advertising has become essential for businesses of all sizes in Kenya
6. As social media exploded, so did digital influencer marketing in Kenya & globally.
7. Content marketing has become essential for digital marketing in Kenya during COVID-19
8. Social Audio exploded during the pandemic and is redefining social media itself!
9. The importance of first-party data in a privacy-compliant digital marketing context is key!
10. Digital communities are being nurtured on social media, virtual meetings & webinars.
11. Video content hit 82% of all consumer Internet traffic in 2020. Short-form video exploded!
What the hell is digital transformation anyway ! - webinar - 25 april 2018 (1)Good Rebels
What the hell is digital transformation anyway?” a webinar presented by Mark Ralphs, partner at Good Rebels, on the 25th of April 2018.
Learn about the challenge of creating a digital first culture and organisation, the forces driving digital transformation, and practical insights and advice on delivering a transformation programme.
In this deck, Greylock Partner Jerry Chen reviews some of the traditional economic moats that technology companies typically leverage and how they are being disrupted. I believe that startups today need to build systems of intelligence™ — AI powered applications — “the new moats.”
How do we see the healthcare's digital future and its impact on our lives?Jane Vita
"Healthcare is undergoing major changes spurred on by, but not limited to, technology.
Digitalisation is changing the way we think about health, what taking care of it really entails, our personal role in healthcare systems and the way we interact with technology in the context of health.
In many ways, we are entering a post-institutional age of increased personal responsibility, which presents healthcare service providers and other players in the field with major opportunities and great risks. Technology has the potential to empower people and help them become more active in the management of their and their families’ health. This will change the relationship of the patient and the caregiver in profound ways." Mirkka Länsisalo
A co-creation with Mirkka Läansisalo and Sala Heinänen, at Futurice.
A look at the evolution of analytics and its revolutionary potential to transform ordinary businesses, power new business models, enable innovation, and deliver greater value. http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/deloitte-analytics/articles/analytics-trends.html
Sarah Tavel of Greylock Partners analyzes the unique financial pain points that young Americans are facing and explains why fintech is ripe for disruption.
In Healthcare, we provide detailed analysis and projections of healthcare fields, occupations, and their wages. In addition, we discuss the important skills and work values associated with healthcare fields and occupations. Finally, We analyze the implications of our findings for the racial, ethnic, and class diversity of the healthcare workforce in the coming decade.
Launching a startup isn't easy. At each stage of scaling - from founding to product-market fit, from product-market fit to hyper growth, and from hyper growth to maturity - entrepreneurs face unique challenges. Greylock Partners hosted an event, called Greyscale, focused on these challenges at each stage. In the opening keynote, Jerry Chen of Greylock Partners discusses the state of enterprise software after the first quarter of 2016. He summarizes the private and public markets, M&A activity, and explains how this climate affects the startup environment.
Lee Rainie, director of internet and technology research at Pew Research Center, discussed recent findings about the prevalence and impact of online harassment at the Cyber Health and Safety Virtual Summit: 41% of American adults have been harassed online and 66% have witnessed harassment. The findings come from the Center’s recent report on these issues.
The investment potential of growth capital and the digital economyAxon Partners Group
Growth capital is becoming a key area of investment, especially in the digital media sector. Axon Partners Group investigates its potential for high returns in comparisons to areas like Venture Capital and real estate, and highlights case studies that have hit the headlines in recent years.
Gridley's Guide to Digital NY -- January 2012Linda Gridley
Gridley’s Guide to Digital New York is a unique and comprehensive report for investors, buyers and entrepreneurs looking for one place to quickly get up to speed on New York’s exciting, explosive digital ecosystem. In addition to this report, we have designed an “easy to use” website that lays out the information in this report (and more) in a fun, creative way. You can access this website from our firm’s home page, www.gridleyco.com, or at www.gridleydigitalny.com.
We decided to put together this report when we were out visiting companies and investors in May/June of 2011 and people starting asking us about all of the “digital momentum” in NY. There was a feeling that lots was going on, but people didn’t really understand just what “it” was and how extensive “it” was. Well, now we can tell you a few things about “it”:
Since 2006,
• There has been $8.4 billion of capital invested in Digital NY companies.
• While the total number of Digital NY private companies probably is well over 600, we have identified 374 to be included in this report. Companies in our report either have raised at least $5 million of outside capital or are prominent enough in the Digital NY scene to merit inclusion. The digital sectors we focused on are: Content, eCommerce, Marketing, Mobile, and Social.
• There are approximately 212 investors with a focused interest in Digital NY. This includes all stages – Seed, Early Stage, Growth, and Buyout – and includes local firms as well as firms with little or no physical presence in NY.
• There have been fifteen private companies that have raised over $100MM of capital (Fab.com, Fotolia, ZocDoc, Gilt Groupe, MongoDB, Appnexus, GrubHub Seamless, Foursquare, OnDeck Capital, Everyday Health, ideeli, Thing Daemon, Warby Parker, 1stdibs, Quirky) and 24 that have raised between $50MM and $100MM.
• There have been seventeen $100MM+ sale transactions of private Digital NY companies since January 2008 (Tumblr, Buddy Media, Mediamind, iCrossing, Admeld, Huffington Post, Webloyalty, About.com, Interclick, Hotjobs, Innovation Interactive, OMGPOP, Ziff Davis Media, Zagat, Behance Network, Register.com, and Answers.com).
Marketplace unicorns valuations soar to $5.0 trillion since January 2020 as record levels of investment see the sector outpace the entire tech market. Speedinvest, Dealroom and Adevinta take a deep dive into the current and future state of digital marketplaces.
2014 was all about...people. The world-class entrepreneurs who feed off the energy of the companies they are building and the industries they are changing.
The second report on the Israeli Internet industry, written in 2014. Highlights the changes in the industry since 2012: the growth, B2C strengths, the changing entrepreneurs and more.
Summary of findings
2018 VC-backed fintech deals and funding set an annual record: In 2018, - VC-backed fintech companies raised $39.57B across 1,707 deals globally. Deals were up 15% year-over-year while funding surged 120% on the back of 52 mega-rounds ($100M+) worth $24.88B combined.
Fintech is happening on global scale with deals outside of core markets (US, UK, and China) accounting for 39% of deals: Fintech deal hubs are starting to emerge globally. The count of unique fintech startups raising funding topped an annual high of 1,463 companies, and the unique number of investors reached 2,745 boosted by an influx of corporate investors.
Early-stage deals, as a percentage, fell to a 5-year low as investors concentrated bets in perceived winners: Global seed and Series A fintech deals grew 5% on an annual basis in 2018, but fell as a percentage of total deals to 57%. US early-stage deals were flat YOY as investors concentrated their bets in established fintech unicorns.
There are 39 VC-backed fintech unicorns worth a combined $147.37B: Q4'18 saw five new unicorns births (Plaid, Brex, Monzo, DevotedHealth, and Toss) and two in the first month of Q1’19 (N26 and Confluent). The cohort’s total valuation in 2018 was boosted by a record year for megarounds to existing unicorns, including Gusto and Robinhood, among others.
apidays LIVE Paris 2021 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 3 observations abo...apidays
apidays LIVE Paris 2021 - APIs and the Future of Software
December 7, 8 & 9, 2021
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 3 observations about power and responsibility in the API business
Cyril Vart, Executive Vice President at Fabernovel
Mobile Goes Mainstreet: Consumers Lead the Way — Key Trends and Investment Op...Linda Gridley
The number of smartphone users in the U.S. is consistently growing and the connected user is turning to mobile more and more frequently for everyday consumption. Global mobile data traffic is predicted to increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015. Smartphone and tablet revenues overtook traditional desktop and laptop revenues in 2013. At the same time, the amount of time users are spending on mobile daily is increasing. Mobile commerce sales are reaching all-time highs, and now represent 12% of total digital commerce, while mobile traffic represent about 40% for major eCommerce retailers such as Amazon, eBay, Apple, and Walmart.
The mobile industry was unquestionably the most important growth channel across digital media. Some of the most important trends we’ve seen in the sector include:
Average mobile (plus tablet) time spend now equal to desktop
Mobile is no longer just for gaming. Growing number
of use cases and apps hitting mass adoption— utilities, productivity,shopping, media & entertainment
Total mobile ad revenue grew twofold in 2013, and still only represents 2% of total ad spend but 12% of total media time spend
Strong M&A and funding environment – First $1bn M&A deal in mobile. Q3’13 was record quarter for mobile
Digital media leaders such as Facebook and Twitter realigned their organizations to mobile over the past two years and now see 40% plus of their revenue from the mobile channel
The evolution of mobile as the next computing platform is just beginning to take shape, bringing new billion market opportunities to the digital media ecosystem. We believe it is still early in this evolution and expect to see new technologies and innovative applications to fuel continued growth over the next five years.
POS Goes Digital: Evolution of the in Store Shopping ExperienceLinda Gridley
Gridley & Company released an industry overview on the dynamic in-store consumer experience called, “POS Goes Digital: Evolution of the In-Store Shopping Experience.” The report focuses on recent trends in the in-store consumer experience as well as our expectations about how the industry, particularly the payments and marketing sectors, will transform in the coming years.
OMMA Display 2011 -- Transformation of the Measurement Industry: How Much Can...Linda Gridley
OMMA Display 2011
Presentation by Linda Gridley
Transformation of the Measurement Industry: How Much Can be Attriibuted to M&A? Learn more about Gridley & Company at http://www.gridleyco.com
Gridley’s Guide to Digital New York is a unique and comprehensive free report for investors, buyers and entrepreneurs looking for one place to quickly get up to speed on New York’s exciting, explosive digital ecosystem.
WHO
- Gridley’s Guide to Digital New York is published by Gridley & Company LLC -- a New York based boutique investment bank that provides financial advisory services to companies in the Information Services industry with a specific focus on the following sectors: Digital Media, Marketing, Internet, and Financial Technology.
WHY
- There is a lot of excitement globally about the NYC digital ecosystem, but it’s still a pretty recent phenomena that continues to grow and be defined.
- Many investors and strategic buyers struggle to keep up with the hot new technologies, the changing landscape and emerging category leaders throughout the Digital NY landscape.
- Entrepreneurs looking to build or grow their business development, investor and resource networks don’t typically have a full picture of the breadth and depth of NYC’s digital sector.
- New York’s existing ecosystem with big traditional media, advertising, data and internet industry leaders set the stage for the unique development of the next generation of disruptive digital companies.
WHAT
- Momentum in the Digital NY Industry: $4.5 Billion invested in Digital NY since 2006 – Interest remains very high, very exciting for NYC.
- Target Audience: Investors, Strategic Buyers & Entrepreneurs, looking for one place to quickly get up to speed on NYC digital ecosystem.
- Dynamic Website – Our website (www.gridleydigitalny.com) enables visitors to quickly gain an overview of what’s happening in New York and to focus on key areas of interest. It includes everything in the report plus details on companies, a list of Digital NY Events, and a Twitter feed following the leading Digital NY companies.
Visit www.gridleyco.com/digitalny for interactive website on digital NY companies.
Linda Gridley's 2011 Perspective on Market Leadership in Today’s MarketLinda Gridley
Industry leaders today are highly vulnerable. It is
increasingly difficult to compete with new, innovative entrants. There is an unprecedented opportunity for new leaders to emerge across all sectors of Information Services.
In this presentation Linda compares valuations of traditional ad agencies to performance-based marketing, traditional media to social networks, and traditional retail to ecommerce.
Then she offers some sage advice to the audience.
Linda Gridley's 2011 Perspective on Market Leadership in Today’s Market
Digital-NY-Press-Release-Q4-2015_FINAL
1. 1
January 2016
Linda Gridley
Partner, Co-Head of
Digital Media Group – New York
lgridley@agcpartners.com
212-400-9710
Gee Leung
Partner, Digital Media Group –
San Francisco
gleung@agcpartners.com
650-241-1490
Jon Guido
Partner, COO, Co-Head of
Digital Media Group - Boston
jon@agcpartners.com
617-261-4126
Markus Salolainen
Partner, Head of Europe,
Digital Media Group - London
msalolainen@agcpartners.com
+44 7776 193 861
2. 2
497+
Strongest Year Ever for Digital NY Scene!
$4.5 Billion Raised During the Year
7 Sale Transactions Over $100mm
12 Financings $100mm and Over
48 Private Companies and 15 VC/PE Firm Added to AGC Database
Overview
2015 was a breakout year for New York VC funding with total announced funding up 67% to $4.5
billion versus $2.7 billion in 2014. Contributing to the strongest year yet for Digital NY, there were
twelve $100m+ financings in 2015 versus only one $100m+ financing in 2014. Since 2010, over
$15.1 billion has been raised for Digital NY companies. eCommerce had the most fundraising
activity and represented 33% of all dollars raised in Digital NY for 2015. This was followed by
Content (31%), Marketing (21%), Mobile (8%) and Social (7%).
For Q4 2015, Digital New York VC financing increased by 107% compared to Q4 2014 but
decreased by 39% compared to Q3 2015 due to the six $100m+ financings in Q3 2015. 21
companies we had already been tracking completed follow-on financings in Q4 2015, raising $844
million in total. The largest funding round of the quarter was completed by Jet.com, which raised
$500 million. This is tied with Vice Media for the largest financing completed in Digital NY.
eCommerce and Digital Content were the most active sectors for financing in Q4 representing 67%
and 17% of the total dollars raised.
Q4 2015 also saw three M&A exits with the $180 million sale of Undertone to Perion being the most
significant. There were fewer M&A deals comparatively this year for Digital NY, but there were a lot
more larger deals. There were seven $100m+ sales in 2015 versus only two $100m+ sales in 2014.
There was one Digital NY IPO in 2015 – the $75m IPO of Etsy in Q2.
Digital New York VC Funding Q4 2015 ($mm)1
Funding by Sector Q4 2015 ($mm)1
Source: Capital IQ.
1
Includes digital companies based in New York that either have raised at least $5 million of outside capital or are prominent enough in
the Digital NY scene to merit inclusion.
3. 3
Overview (continued)
Thanks to a particularly strong Q2 and consistent activity throughout the year, 2015 was a very good
year for Digital NY M&A with the total announced transaction volume in excess of $6.4 billion. As
noted earlier, it is very exciting to report that there were seven $100m+ M&A deals in 2015 versus
only two $100m+ deals in 2014. Out of the seven $100m+ deals in 2015, the two Digital Content
deals represented 74% of total deal volume. This is mainly due to the $4.4billion sale of AOL to
Verizon in Q2 – the largest transaction in Digital NY history followed by the $343 million sale of
Business Insider to Axel Springer. There were four $100million+ Digital Marketing M&A deals in
2015, all in adtech– the sale of Media Ocean to Vista Equity ($720mm), Exelate to Nielsen
($195m), Undertone to Perion ($180mm), and Yieldex to AppNexus ($100mm). The final
$100mm+M&A deal in 2015 was the sale of eCommerce company Borderfree to Pitney Bowes
($448mm).
Private Digital NY Sale Transactions >$100 Million since 2010
Source: CapIQ; TechCrunch; public filings; WSJ; Business Insider; and press releases
*Represents 100% Enterprise Value – Vista Equity Partners paid $594 for 82.5% stake
4. 4
Overview (continued)
2015 was a tough year for tech IPOs generally and Digital NY followed that trend. The only Digital
NY company to go public this year was the vintage ecommerce company Etsy and its story as a
public company isn’t a pretty one. The Company went public at $16.00 and finished the year down
48.0% to $8.26. The six Digital NY companies that have gone public since 2007 performed much
worse than the overall market in 2015 with a median performance of (38.0)% versus (1.0%), (2.0%),
and +6.0% for the S&P 500,Dow Jones, and NASDAQ.
Digital NY IPOs (2007 to Date)
Source: CapIQ; Thomson Reuters; 451 Research; Market Watch
(a) IPO date to closing price on 12/31/15
5. 5
Overview (continued)
As noted earlier, 2015 was also a breakout year for Digital NY financings. Total announced funding
was up 66.7% to 4.5 billion. VC/PE funding trends followed the M&A scene with twelve $100m+
financings in 2015 versus only one $100m+ financing in 2014. eCommerce led the way with the
$500mm investment in Jet.com, $145mm investment in Jet.com, the $135mm funding for Blue
Apron and the $100mm financing for Warby Parker. Digital Content was the second largest
fundraiser led by Buzzfeed ($300mm), FanDuel ($275mm), Purch ($135mm) and Saavn
($100mm). (Financings by Dataminr ($130mm), ZocDoc ($130mm), Zeta Interactive ($125mm)
and Ambatana ($100mm) rounded out Digital NY’s 2015 top financings.
6. 6
Jet.com Poppin and Schoology Receive Largest Digital NY Financings of Q4 2015
For Q4 2015, eCommerce marketplace companies received the largest amount of funding as seven
companies raised a total of approximately $607 million. In November 2015, Jet.com announced that it
will raise $500 million in Series B funding. The Company operates a members-only shopping club that
provides clients with best price on various products. This current round values Jet.com at a post-money
value of $1.5 billion. It is being led by Fidelity Investments with additional participation from Alibaba
Capital Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Google Ventures. Total funding to date is $554 million
for this latest unicorn.
Another online retailer, Poppin, also announced in November 2015 that it will raise $41 million in
funding. The Company retails various work-lifestyle products online, with products ranging from basic
office essentials, to school supplies, to key business solutions for creating happy workspaces and
thriving companies. The Company has raised $75M in funding to date.
In addition to these financings, Zola, an innovative Wedding Registry platform, announced in November
that it will raise $10 million in Series B funding. This round was led by Canvas Ventures with
participation from BBG, Female Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures, Thrive Capital, and
Morgenthaler Technology Investment Company and it brings the Company’s total funding to $19
million. Also in November, eCommerce marketing software provider Bluecore announced that it will raise
$21 million in Series B funding led by Georgian Partners with participation from FirstMark Capital and
Felicis Ventures. The Company’s marketing solution automates the process of creating and distributing
triggered emails in reaction to customer behavior. Bluecore has received total funding of $65 million to
date.
Digital Content was also an active sector for financing this quarter with total announced funding of
approximately $153 million. In November 2015, Schoology announced that it will raise $32M in Series D
funding. Schoology develops a cloud-based learning management platform that allows institutions to
create engaging content, design lessons, and assess student understanding; and enables students and
faculty to connect, communicate, and share with their peers across campus and around the world. This
round was led by JMI Equity with additional participation from FirstMark Capital, Great Road
Holdings, and Intel Capital.
In November 2015, ClassPass announced that it received $30 million in Series C funding led by Google
Ventures, with participation from existing investors General Catalyst and Thrive Capital. ClassPass
offers an online subscription service that provides access to fitness classes across multiple gyms,
studios, and fitness classes. Video was a popular sub segment within the Digital Content sector this
quarter. NowThis Media, a digital video news outlet that provides original news content for mobile
devices and social platforms, announced in December that it will raise $16 million. The round was led by
Axel Spring Ventures with participation from Oak Investment Partners, NBC Universal, and
SoftBank Capital.
Another Video notable financing was YouNow, which operates a social television platform that allows
anyone to broadcast live, in front of an audience, from any webcam or mobile device. In October 2015,
the Company announced that it will raise $15 million in funding co-led by existing investor Venrock and
individual investor Oren Zeev, a former Apax partner, turned entrepreneur and angel investor, with
participation from Comcast Ventures and Union Square Ventures.
Marketing was another active sector for financing this quarter with total announced funding of
approximately $70 million. In December 2015, Innovid announced that it will raise $27.5 million, and
JWPlayer announced that it will raised $20 million.
Sources: Capital IQ, Crunchbase, press releases, WSJ
7. 7
Notable Digital New York Fundraisings — Q4 20151
M&A: Three Digital New York Exits – Q4 20151
On December 1
st
, Perion Network announced the acquisition of Undertone Networks for $180 million. Undertone
provides cross-screen marketing campaign management SaaS and operates an online display and video
advertising network for corporate brands and businesses. In the Company’s press release, Perion described
Undertone as “a premium brand company of scale and profitability, with a differentiated sustainable position in the
market.” This acquisition will help Perion establish itself as the leading delivery solution of high-quality advertising
for publishers and brands.
On November 16
th
, MatomyMedia Group acquired Optimatic Media for $25 million. Following the trend of
increased financings in the video advertising sector, Optimatic Media provides supply-side, programmatic
application monetization SaaS for video-based mobile advertising campaigns. Matomy’s press release highlighted
this trend: “in the coming years, video will play an important role in the revenue that will be generated from mobile
advertising.”
On October 2
nd
, XO Group announced the acquisition of the remaining 72% stake in GigMasters.com, bringing
XO Group’s total ownership to 100%. GigMasters.com provides online event booking services that help users find
vendors, compare prices, and book professionals for various special occasions.
8. 8
Additions to Our Digital New York Guide
Private Companies: This quarter we added zero marketing, one eCommerce, two content, one social, and two mobile
companies to our database. We add a company to our Digital NY database when it has raised at least $5 million in
outside capital to date, or when it has generated significant “buzz” in the New York tech community.
Marketing:
eCommerce: Mouth Foods
Content: YouNow, Gimlet Media
Social: Conversocial
Mobile: MastMobile, mParticle
VC/PE Firms: We added 1 firm to our investor database. We add new VC/PE firms to our Digital NY database
when we see that they have made investments in Digital NY companies.
Viola Private Equity
Viola Private Equity is an Israeli-based technology growth capital and buyout fund that focuses on investing in global
companies at an expansion phase. They invest in new media, software, communications, cleantech/agritech, med-tech,
and technology-enabled services. Their selection criteria include technology-oriented firms with scalable management
teams and profitable existing business models.
9. 9
AGC’s Guide to Digital New York includes:
430 private emerging digital companies broken down into 5 major sectors and
36 subsectors – including company descriptions, funding history, and URL
177 venture capital & private equity firms investing in the digital NY sector, categorized by investment
profile and by physical presence in NY
The guide is intended for parties interested in knowing who’s who in the New York digital scene. Venture capital and
private equity firms, entrepreneurs, and public companies looking for acquisitions are just a few of the possible users
who could benefit from the Guide’s centralized information.
About AGC:
AGC Partners, now in its 13th year of business, just completed a record year with 28 transactions in 2015. With buyers
and sellers across the United States, Europe, and Asia, AGC is more active than ever with outstanding relationships
across the globe with entrepreneurs, strategic buyers and private equity professionals. Since AGC Partners' inception in
2003, we have completed 263 technology M&A and growth equity transactions. Moreover, AGC has completed 48
consecutive quarters of profitability. Our continued passion is to discover and work with exciting emerging growth
companies, helping them to achieve their vision. For more information on AGC Partners, visit www.agcpartners.com.
Note: This document is intended to serve as information only, and to suggest that further analysis and consideration
may be warranted. Unless otherwise indicated, AGC does not believe that the information contained herein is sufficient
to serve as the basis of an investment decision. There can be no assurance that these statements, estimates or
forecasts will be attained and actual results may be materially different. Only those representations or warranties which
are made in a definitive purchase agreement will have any legal effect. To learn more about the company/companies
that is/are the subject of this commentary, contact one of persons named herein who can give you additional
information.
Jon Guido
Partner, COO, Co-Head of
Digital Media Group – Boston
jon@agcpartners.com
617-261-4126
Linda Gridley
Partner, Co-Head of
Digital Media Group – New York
lgridley@agcpartners.com
212-400-9710
Gee Leung
Partner, Digital Media Group –
San Francisco
gleung@agcpartners.com
650-241-1490
Markus Salolainen
Partner, Head of Europe,
Digital Media Group – London
msalolainen@agcpartners.com
+44 776 193 861