Outbrain acquires video intelligence AG for $55 million, first purchase since Nasdaq IPO

Israeli company Outbrain, which has developed a leading recommendation platform for the open web, announced on Monday that it is acquiring video intelligence AG (vi), a Swiss-based contextual video technology platform for digital and Connected TV media owners.

Outbrain will acquire vi for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $55 million, funded by $46.75 million of balance sheet cash and 412,500 Outbrain shares. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Outbrain went public at a $1.12 billion valuation in July, but has since seen its market cap drop to its current low of around $800 million.

vi’s contextual and machine learning technology enables media owners to enhance user engagement and monetization by adding relevant video content to articles. It also provides advertisers with high-impact, highly viewable, brand-safe video ad inventory that drives awareness and user engagement. Working with more than 1,100 media owners around the world, ranging from IDG to Der Spiegel and Funke, vi’s solution is cookieless by design. In addition, vi recently entered the CTV space partnering with several premium providers including Samsung TV+ with a unique contextual offering.

“vi fits perfectly into Outbrain’s core strategy of providing media owners with technology to enhance user engagement and monetization through relevant content and ads,” said David Kostman, Co-CEO of Outbrain. “The combination with vi will allow us to deepen our partnership with media owners, providing mid- and top-of-article video solutions. It will also expand our addressable market, introducing high-quality in-stream video inventory to support our brand advertisers."

“We are delighted to join Outbrain, and become a core part of creating the leading video engagement platform,” said Kai Henniges, Co-Founder and CEO of vi. “Our years of video expertise and unique offering for publishers and CTV providers are a perfect addition to Outbrain’s leading market position and premium global media owner partnerships.”