Infillion purchases MediaMath following $22 million bid for bankrupt DSP

At a bankruptcy hearing on 23rd August, adtech firm Infillion put in a winning bid of $22m to take possession of recently bankrupt demand side platform (DSP) MediaMath, a bargain considering the company was once valued at $1bn.

First reported by Digiday, the investment fund owned by former MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadski, AperiumVentures, advised on the bid, prompting some to posit that the adtech veteran may be looking to reconnect with the company he founded over 15 years ago.

The auction came as a result of MediaMath shocking the adtech world by filing for Chapter 11 just over two months ago. With many of its 300 employees having now moved on, as well as the company’s former clients, Infillion’s purchase puts a bow on what has been a dramatic story.

However, many of the DSP’s former sell side platforms (SSPs), including Magnite and PubMatic, remain out of pocket, due to almost $125m worth of unfulfilled payments. It’s unclear whether these SSPs will be compensated for what they are owed.

Now backed by AperiumVentures, Infillion’s purchase of MediaMath could see the DSP used in association with the investment fund’s 15 ad tech start-ups currently in its portfolio, by way of growing each organisation in unison.