Brightcom Group acquires MediaMint for 566 crore

Hyderabad: Global ad-tech and software development company Brightcom Group (Formerly Lycos Internet Ltd) has acquired Vuchi Media Pvt Ltd, operating under the brand name of MediaMint, for about Rs 566 crore in cash and stock. As per the definitive share purchase agreement, Rs 360 crore will be paid in cash at closing the deal and Rs 36 crore will be paid within six months, along with Rs 170 crore in stock.

MediaMint is an end-to-end digital consulting and digital operations provider specialised in ad operations, campaign management, creative services, data analytics, and platform support. Its revenue for the financial year ending March 2022 is expected to be Rs 187 crore. After acquisition, it will continue its strong trajectory serving its growing list of enterprise and market-leading clients. MediaMint's leadership team, including Neelima Marupuru, Anush Kumar, Jason Riback and Aashay Paradkar, will continue to help guide the rapid growth of the business. Aditya Vuchi, Co-founder, will stay on for six months to ensure a smooth transition. Tempus Legal is serving as the legal counsel and EY as exclusive financial advisor to Brightcom Group in this transaction.

"The acquisition enhances our M&A strategy by having a more robust backend support model to improve future targets' operating efficiencies and expedite other synergy realization efforts. The acquisition will be immediately and meaningfully accretive to our earnings," said Suresh Reddy, Chairman of Brightcom Group. Neelima Marupuru, Co-founder of MediaMint, said: "Brightcom's history of developing and growing technology and operations business fits well with our ambition to expand the capabilities and access to talent in new regions." As the advertising and technology sector worldwide is witnessing massive growth due to an accelerating shift to online marketing, propelled by the pandemic. Brightcom's management is proactively expanding its backend capabilities to increase its capacity to capture new opportunities and execute on the strategic needs of its clients globally.

The addition of MediaMint's digital marketing operations experience will strengthen the Brightcom group's backend in supporting the anticipated sharp growth of the business across various sub-sectors of Digital advertising and media. MediaMint employs over 1,300 employees, servicing reputed international clients such as Pinterest, New York Times, Netflix, Cox Automotive and Expedia.

Founded in 2010, MediaMint is a bootstrapped company and has never raised any external capital. It supports display, video, and mobile advertising services for ad agencies, publishers, and platforms.