Outbrain, a US-based online content discovery platform backed by quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and publisher Gruner + Jahr, filed for a $100m initial public offering yesterday.
Founded in 2006, Outbrain has built an online content recommendation platform that enables websites operators to direct users to personalised and monetised content. More than 7,000 websites including several news publications use the platform.
The company generated $767m of revenue in 2020, up from $687m the year before, and shrank its net loss from $20.5m in 2019 to $4.3m last year. The filing follows a failed attempt to merge with peer Taboola in an $850m transaction agreed in October 2019.
The deal was delayed by regulatory security in the UK and Israel before it was finally abandoned in September 2020, when Taboola sought to change the terms of the transaction. Taboola had submitted an offer in which would have involved it paying half of the $850m figure.
In February 2019, Outbrain agreed to acquire Litagus, an advertising software provider owned by Gruner + Jahr, which received $40.1m of Outbrain’s shares as part of the deal.
Outbrain has raised $195m of funding since it was founded in 2006. It secured $45m from undisclosed investors in 2016, after SIG’s Susquehanna Growth Equity subsidiary supplied $50m of funding the previous year.
The company’s earlier funding rounds were backed by investors including Viola Ventures, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Gemini Israel Funds, Glenrock Israel, Rhodium and Zohar Gilon.
Viola Ventures is Outbrain’s largest shareholder, with a 14% stake, followed by Lightspeed Venture Partners (13.9%), Gemini Israel Funds (10.8%) Gruner + Jahr (8%) and Index Ventures (5.4%).
Citigroup, Jefferies, Barclays and Evercore ISI are joint bookrunners for the IPO, which will take place on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. JMP Securities, Needham & Company and Luma Securities are co-managers.