Perion acquired Ukraine-based AI marketing startup Captain Growth for about $3.75 million

Israel-based adtech company Perion Network has acquired Kyiv, Ukraine-based marketing startup Septa Communications LLC, better known as Captain Growth for about $3.75 million, pending several milestones to be achieved within a two-year period. The acquisition will bolster Perion’s Undertone, a cross-platform synchronized digital branding for the world’s most prominent brands

Founded in 2017, Captain Growth offers an ad performance analytics service, providing feedback and actionable recommendations to users. Captain Growth’s technology will be integrated into Perion’s cross-platform digital branding division Undertone. Founded in 1999, Nasdaq-listed Perion is currently traded at a market capitalization of $72.89 million

Captain Growth was launched in 2017 with the vision of replacing current AI systems – ‘black boxes’ which offer virtually no user control functionality, no transparency, and no ability to find and scale the most valuable ad units – with a next generation system. Those inherent problems are all addressed with the Captain Growth platform, which ingests and analyzes ad performance data – including results by segments, creative and budget – and delivers “Value Unlock” recommendations which users can accept or reject. If accepted, the recommendations are applied automatically and immediately. This represents the new frontier of artificial intelligence.

The integration of Captain Growth’s AI capabilities into Undertone will enable an even more refined level of cross-channel synchronization and intelligence, as campaigns put through Undertone will be optimized based on precision placement driven by AI-driven calculations.

The platform’s “Value Unlock” will deliver a new level of pre-campaign planning and real-time cross-channel recommendations while campaigns are running. The level of AI sophistication that Captain Growth brings to Undertone represents an important step in executing our strategic vision and plan” said Doron Gerstel, CEO of Perion.

“With Captain Growth’s proprietary ‘Value Unlock’ technology, our synchronization will now give brands the critical ability to benefit from putting the best-performing units in front of the right users at the right time – for unprecedented cross-channel engagement.” “We couldn’t think of a better home for Captain Growth than Undertone, and better partners than Mr. Gerstel and his team,” said Mr. Dmytro Plieshakov and Mr. Dmytro Bilash, co-founders of Captain Growth.

“We believe that the integration of our platform into Undertone will deliver unprecedented growth opportunities to brands who are focused on both deep relationships with users, and key performance drivers.” Total consideration is up to $3.75 million, partially paid in cash at closing while the remaining consideration is subject to the achievement of certain milestones and retention over the next 2 years. The acquisition is not expected to have a significant impact on Perion’s financial results.

About Septa Communications LLC: Septa Communications is an IT development company which applies cutting-edge AI-driven technologies to marketing. The company has a unique expertise on the intersection of applied digital marketing and data science. Such knowledge helps the company to marry business tasks with high-end AI approaches to reach prominent results.