Native mobile advertising startup Avocarrot — which, interestingly, was in the first cohort of company builder Entrepreneur First — has been acquired by adtech company Glispa Global Group.
Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, though TechCrunch understands from sources that the headline price is around $20 million. That’s likely a mixture of cash and stock and may also include various earn-out stipulations. It should also be noted that EF won’t make a dime out of this exit.
Avocarrot joined the London-based company builder, which targets technical graduates to help them become entrepreneurs, before it started investing in the startups it puts through its program. In other words, as was the case when CustomInk was bought for a reported $100 million, EF didn’t have an equity stake in Avocarrot. How times have changed. That said, the exit does provide a little more validation that EF’s unique model works.
Described as a native advertising Supply-Side Platform, Avocarrot offers a monetization solution for mobile apps via less intrusive advertising dubbed “native advertising”. Native ads take the look and feel of existing app content, so they feel less intrusive than standard banner ads. This leads to more clicks and hence greater revenue for app developers and publishers.
“It’s very similar to what Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest do for their own apps (showing ads that match the design of their platforms), but we provide this functionality for all other apps that don’t have the resources of Facebook to create and continuously optimize native ads themselves,” explains Avocarrot co-founder Conno Christou.
Meanwhile, I’m told that Avocarrot’s “programmatic exchange” will soon integrate with Glispa’s Ampiri native advertising monetization platform with a single user interface, a single SDK, and a combined integration of ad-networks and DSPs.
Avocarrot’s four technical founders, Conno Christou, Georgios Makkoulis, Giorgos Eracleous, and Panagiotis Papageorgiou, and 14 additional Avocarrot engineers will join the Ampiri team of engineers and data scientists.
“Avocarrot brings immediate value to Glispa Global Group and together we’re offering one of the top independent, native advertising solutions on the market today. With two acquisitions this year and the launch of the Ampiri native ad mediation platform we’re solidly positioned to drive monetization for app developers and help them reach their full revenue potential,” said Gary Lin, Founder and CEO of Glispa Global Group in a statement.