Dundee entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl has hailed a historic deal as television advertising analytics firm TVSquared was sold for £118 million.
The co-founder of Chroma Ventures and 4J Studios has been chairman of the Edinburgh-based analytics firm since 2016.
TVSquared is the world’s largest measurement and attribution platform for converged TV.
It allows companies to measure the impact of their television advertising.
American TV advertising delivery and measurement platform Innovid has acquired the firm in a deal valued around £118m ($160m) and consists of $100 million in cash as well as an additional stock consideration.
Innovid deal huge for TVSquared
Mr van der Kuyl says this is a big day for the whole team.
“It’s absolutely amazing. This is a business we’ve been backing since the very early days,” he says.
“Pretty much all the money that the business has raised has come from Scottish investors and things like the Scottish Edge.
“This isn’t the end of the story for TVSquared. They’ve really broken through and they’re now a global leader in their market segment.”
TVSquared is now part of the @innovid family! Together, we’re transforming the industry – powering independent, cross-platform measurement across the TV and digital universe. Transformation is here today. #CTV #ConvergedTV https://t.co/eh04GUIYNJ pic.twitter.com/p993lukpNA
— TVSquared (@tvsquared) February 7, 2022
The Dundee entrepreneur founded investment firm Chroma Ventures with Paddy Burns last year.
Its investments focus on data-led businesses and innovative technology.
The firm will keep investing in Innovid as it takes over TVSquared.
Dundee firm remains investors
“As well as the cash we’re receiving for the company, we’re also receiving shares in Innovid,” says Mr van der Kuyl.
“We’re going to be investors in Innovid now as well, we’re going to be cheering for them.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to help them, because there’s still a long way to go.”
The deal comes as TVSquared is marking its 10-year anniversary.
Founder Calum Smeaton will be stepping down as chief executive to take on a strategy role in support of integration with Innovid.
The Scottish firm will keep its Edinburgh headquarters.
“One of the reasons Innovid did the deal with us was they just saw the quality of engineering and technology talent in Scotland,” says Mr van der Kuyl.
“It’s a huge endorsement of that and the fact we can build technology teams that are world class.
“It’s great to see that recognition for the whole team.”
