{"id":5200,"date":"2018-12-29T10:10:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-29T03:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.adeptasiaconsulting.com\/?p=5200"},"modified":"2018-12-24T08:58:30","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T01:58:30","slug":"sovrn-acquires-viglink-to-expand-its-publisher-monetization-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.adeptasiaconsulting.com\/sovrn-acquires-viglink-to-expand-its-publisher-monetization-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Sovrn acquires VigLink to expand its publisher monetization platform"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sovrn<\/a> recently raised $25 million in new funding<\/a> with the goal of expanding beyond the adtech business through acquisitions. Now it\u2019s announcing the first of those deals: It\u2019s acquiring affiliate marketing company VigLink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sovrn first launched in 2014 \u2014 made up, as CEO Walter Knapp put it, from \u201cbits and pieces of different companies.\u201d (It emerged from Federated Media<\/a> and its roots go back to Lijit, which FM acquired in 2011.) Knapp said the company\u2019s vision is to \u201cenable a professional class of storytellers to do more of what they want to do\u201d by providing tools around content creation, distribution, monetization, operations and capital.<\/p>\n

As for VigLink, <\/a> it was founded in 2009 to help publishers monetize by automatically inserting affiliate links (where merchants share revenue with publishers when those publishers drive sales). Knapp said he\u2019s been interested in the intersection of publishing and commerce because publishers are often the ones influencing consumer purchase decisions, but \u201cthey don\u2019t really capture the commerce value of what they\u2019ve created.\u201d<\/p>\n

VigLink already plays a big role in that process \u2014 Knapp said its links are driving nearly $1 billion in annual sales. But he also noted that there\u2019s less than 10 percent overlap between the domains working with Sovrn and VigLink, so he sees plenty of opportunity to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can take what is a really interesting product that has appealed more to high-volume publishers and take it into content publishers,\u201d Knapp said. \u201cNow what\u2019s required there is a pretty deep understanding of the editorial process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knapp intends to bring the entire 35-person VigLink team over to Sovrn, bringing the company\u2019s headcount to 220. He also said that with the addition of VigLink to Sovrn\u2019s business, \u201ctransactional adtech\u201d will make up less than half of the company\u2019s total revenue.<\/p>\n

And he promised that the VigLink product will continue to evolve, for example by giving publishers more data about the entire customer journey.<\/p>\n

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to Crunchbase<\/a>, VigLink raised more than $27 million from investors, including GV, Emergence Capital, First Round Capital, RRE Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Foundry Group, Costanoa Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.<\/p>\n

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VigLink Acquires Content Promotion Startup LinkSmart, Adds Another $2M In Funding<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n