Japanese company Geniee acquires AdPushup operator Zelto for $70 million

Japanese marketing technology company Geniee, part of the SoftBank group, paid approximately $70 million in cash to acquire the revenue optimization platform Zelto (formerly known as AdPushup). who started his journey in India.

The acquisition is a remarkable turnaround for Zeltola, a 10-year-old company that provides content creators and web publishers with tools to generate more revenue by leveraging dozens of ad exchanges that have had near-death experiences twice during their journey. In 2014, the startup was running out of money. It later struggled with its product offerings after its core service struggled to make headway, Zelto founder and CEO Ankit Oberoi said in an interview with TechCrunch.

The two companies announced the deal on Thursday, but did not disclose the terms of the deal. The source requested anonymity when sharing private information. Zelto’s Oberoi, which has been profitable for several years and raised less than $2.5 million in debt capital during its inception, declined to disclose the terms of the transaction. According to the company’s website, Elle, NDTV, Cnet, PCMag, Mashable, and GSMArena are among the customers of Zelto’s flagship AdPushup.

“It was a rollercoaster. We’ve had our share of challenges. But I think those tough times were really helpful,” Oberoi said. “After the launch, customers left. Half the team has left. But it forced us to look at the core value we provide to our customers and when we ran out of money in 2014, we were forced to become frugal and profitable.”

The acquisition will not significantly change the way Zelto operates, he said. “Everything is normal for us. But now that we have the support of a SoftBank-backed company, we will invest a lot more in our growth and expand into markets in Southeast Asia that we have not yet explored.” Zelto, which maintains a large team in India and started operations in the country, identifies the US as its home base and largest market.

“I am very excited about this partnership, which will significantly advance the goal of Zelto and Geniee. My first meeting with Ankit was seven years ago. It was still a small company at the time, but I invested in Ankit with the intuition that it would become a leading global start-up,” said Tomoaki Kudo, CEO of Geniee, in a statement.

“I also have great respect for the fact that they have delivered strong growth in the highly competitive and advanced markets of North America and India. Going forward, we are eager to learn from the North American and Indian markets, from Zelto’s technology, services, knowledge and corporate culture, and strongly promote Geniee’s globalization to achieve its goal.”