Verve Group (VRV) 16th IIF - International Investment Forum summary

Industry positioning and market overview

• Focuses on emerging advertising channels like mobile, connected TV, retail media, and podcasts, with a dominant position in mobile advertising.

• Global ad spend is $1,100 billion, with programmatic advertising at $600 billion and mobile at $225 billion, half of which is in the U.S.

• Holds a leading market share in both iOS and Android app advertising, integrated into over 65,000 apps and reaching 2.5 billion consumers.

• Displays over 1 trillion ads annually and is the largest technology provider in the U.S. market.

Technology and platform integration

• Operates an integrated software platform connecting publishers and advertisers through rapid, automated auctions.

• Only 6–8 companies are allowed on the bidding tables due to technology and stability requirements.

• Recently unified five DSP and five SSP platforms into one each, consolidating data lakes and SDKs, covering 85% of business.

• Platform unification caused a temporary delay and guidance revision but is now complete, with only minor integrations remaining.

Revenue model and financials

• Revenue model splits $100 ad spend among demand-side, marketplace, supply-side, and publisher, with up to 50% take rate depending on auction role.

• Maintains an EBITDA margin around 30%, with a target to increase to 33% by 2028/2029.

• Revised 2023 guidance due to platform unification delays and currency effects, but underlying business remains strong.

• Plans to reach €1 billion revenue and €330 million+ EBITDA by 2028/2029, with 20% of growth from M&A.

• Leverage increased to 2.8–2.9 after recent acquisitions, with a target to reduce to 1.5 over 2–3 years.