Viant Technology Surges in Trading Debut – Barrons
Viant Technology stock rockets 85% after IPO – MarketWatch
Viant CEO Explains Why Stock Popped 90% In Debut – AdExchanger
- The IPO was upsized from the previous 7.5 million shares, expected to price between $19 and $21 per share.
- BofA Securities and UBS Investment Bank are the book-running managers for the IPO. Canaccord Genuity, JMP Securities, Needham & Company, and Raymond James are the co-managers for the IPO.
Article on CNBC by Megan Graham @MEGANCGRAHAM
Viant Technology, the latest ad tech company to go public, saw shares pop more than 90% after the company launched its initial public offering Wednesday.
Viant operates a demand-side advertising platform, or DSP, called Adelphic. It was priced at $25 per share, but opened at $44, and closed the day at $47.72. The company debuted on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DSP.”
A recent note from MKM Partners said ad-tech IPOs have had a mixed track record in the public markets, but that there has been a resurgence lately with PubMatic and Magnite getting a “warm reception” from investors.
Viant was launched by brothers Tim, Chris and Russ Vanderhook in 1999. The company acquired social networking company Myspace in 2011. Later that year it helped start connected TV platform Xumo, which was acquired by Comcast last year.
Time Inc. bought a 60% stake in Viant in 2016, which Meredith acquired via its own acquisition of Time in 2018. The Viant founders took back control of the company in 2019.
The company, which has about 300 employees, competes with players like The Trade Desk and with part of Google’s ad tech business. The software is used by marketers and their ad agencies to centralize buying, planning and measurement of advertising across channels like desktop, mobile, connected TV, streaming audio and digital billboards, the company said in its S-1 filing ahead of the IPO.
Viant COO Chris Vanderhook said the company had a “tremendous” year in 2019 before getting hit by the broader Covid-related ad slowdown last year.
“I would say the opportunity in front of us in the market is this programmatic opportunity,” he told CNBC in an interview Wednesday. “It is growing really fast, over 20% a year. However, the total U.S. ad market today is about $200 billion. Only about 40% of that is bought programmatically or through software.”
Viant says its DSP is well-positioned as a “people-based” platform, versus one that’s based on cookies, which use personal data stored in your web browser. Google plans to deprecate its support for third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by next year >>> READ MORE
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