Southern California Investors Acquire DSP, Agency As Mini 'Holding Company' Forms

• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, April 4, 2014

There’s a mini holding company of sorts manifesting in Southern California, and it has recently acquired a demand-side platform (DSP) named Invertise to add real-time bidding (RTB) to its repertoire.

The as-yet unnamed “holding company” is led by partners Reeve Benaron and Jason Wulfsohn, who spoke with RTM Daily about the Invertise deal, how it fits with a separate agency the two acquired, and what else the partners have brewing.

Invertise was acquired in an all-cash deal, and while exact figures were not shared, Benaron said it was in the “low seven figures.” The mobile-focused DSP has a seat on the AppNexus exchange and is integrated with a third-party data management platform (DMP). Benaron would not disclose which DMP, but did note that he is a member of the board for the DMP.

Secrets aside, Benaron and Wulfsohn are acquiring companies that play nice with one another. Benaron acquired Invertise himself in June 2013, though no official announcements had been made until now. After partnering with Wulfsohn shortly thereafter, the two purchased Visiseek, a San Diego-based ad agency, in November 2013.

Along with Ben Tiernan, they are also partners at Culver City-based strategy and creative agency ONE/x.

Visiseek clients are able to use Invertise as a managed service, meaning it would hands-off for them, and Invertise would act as a trading desk. Tiernan, SVP of advertising technologies at Invertise, views this as a good thing because it doesn’t require “a huge on-boarding experience” for the advertiser.

However, as many advertisers are looking to be more hands-on with tech, Invertise can also be used on a self-serve basis or as a white-labeled solution.

“Brands and advertisers are getting smarter,” said Benaron. “A lot of their inside people are now starting to want to [use ad tech] on their own to save money.”