Video game developer Zynga agreed on Wednesday to buy Chartboost, the US-based developer of a mobile app advertising and monetisation platform, for about $250m, enabling telecommunications firm SK Telecom to exit.
Founded in 2011, Chartboost provides a programmatic advertising and monetisation platform for mobile-based applications that utilises machine learning technology and data science techniques.
The company claims the platform has more than 700 million monthly active users and generates in excess of 90 billion monthly advertising auctions.
Chartboost CEO Rich Izzo said: “We are thrilled to join with Zynga to further build and expand our full-stack advertising platform that will serve Zynga and the entire mobile ecosystem.
“Together, we share a vision of the future where a combined advertising, analytics and content platform will accelerate growth across both of our companies. Zynga already feels like family and an extension of our own company culture.”
Sequoia Capital led Chartboost’s $19m series B round in 2013, investing alongside SK Telecom’s corporate venturing unit, SK Telecom Ventures, and venture capital firm TransLink Capital. SK Telecom itself is a subsidiary of conglomerate SK Group.
The company had already raised $2m in a 2011 series A round that included SK Telecom Ventures, TransLink Capital and XG Ventures. UBS Investment Bank is financial adviser for the acquisition while Orrick is Zynga’s legal adviser.