Private equity giant Blackstone acquired the video advertising startup Vungle in a deal The Wall Street Journal reported to be around $750m.
“Blackstone’s backing should allow [Vungle] to grow faster,” Vungle co-founder Jack Smith told The Hustle via email. “To date the company only raised $25.5m.”
It was a big buyout at the end of a bumpy road
Founded in 2011, Vungle now serves more than 4B video ads per month for 60k clients like Microsoft, Pandora, and Zynga.
But despite its successes, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Vungle. Former CEO Zain Jaffer was arrested in 2017 and subsequently fired from his position at the company.
Although the charges were later dropped, the incident led to an ugly legal fight between the company and its ex-CEO. But, as a part of its acquisition announcement, Vungle also announced it had finally reached a settlement in the case.