The $1 Trillion Constant; Meet, Greet & Network At Cannes
The continuous flow of apocalyptic stories is starting to wear thin. It’s hard not to be affected by the almost daily deluge of end-of-days clickbait - from the death of the “open web” to the evisceration of referral traffic to the inevitable death of display.
It’s enough to drive you to quit for a handy admin job in insurance. But then you remember that some chatbot AI will likely cut short your new career, completing your core tasks in seconds with a mere text prompt - a classic Catch-22 scenario.
In these drama-filled days, FPC is reminded of the story of the Chinese farmer, a 2nd-century Taoist story.
We have swapped out the farmer for an ad tech practitioner working at the coal face for this specific narrative. This updated Chinese parable is the tale of an ad ops specialist and a series of random incidents.
Each day, the individual either endures or enjoys a piece of misfortune or good luck. And each time industry peers congratulate or commiserate, the response is the same: “Maybe.”
The parable teaches us that there are unknown consequences of perceived misfortune and good fortune.
For every SGE (Search Generative Experience) that launches, there is a possible new traffic referrer. Cookie deprecation could birth a new measurement model, and an open web death could give rise to a better-curated internet.
On the other hand, a Google breakup might not unleash any real economic benefit for independent ad tech. Instead, it could starve it of the demand for much-needed Adwords.
Taoist teachings and ad tech - an unnecessary conflation? Maybe.
Despite the randomness of it all, there is one constant we as an industry can be sure of: ad spending will reach $1 trillion in 2025, and ad tech will power it all.
That money is not going all to the big tech companies. The 20% will thrive and survive.
Yes, readers, FPC just did a spectacular 180 there.
In ad tech, there are some certainties. $1 trillion is a certainty.
Here is another number to chew on while hammering home the point: since 2021, there has been over $8 billion in ad tech M&A transactions in Europe alone, a direct consequence of this $1 trillion constant.
You should also be aware that FirstPartyCapital is the only early-stage fund outside the US that funds ad tech startups in the $1 trillion ad business.
FPC has raised $11 million to date, with a further $3 million deployed through our syndicate. We already have had several mark-ups and are still open to smart investors.
Now is the time to fund the companies that will dominate the new landscape.
Let’s recap, shall we:
$1 trillion addressable market.
$8 billion in M&A activity in Europe alone
Mark-ups in FPC Fund 1.
The best ad tech portfolio in the industry.
You should ask yourself: should I invest in ad tech and the FirstPartyCapital fund? The answer is not maybe; the answer is definitely.
Come Network With Us At Cannes
We will host our network party in Cannes in partnership with ExchangeWire again this year. We have rebranded our get-together, The Cannes Social.
The drinks networking party will be held at Ma Nolan’s on Tuesday, June 18, from 4 to 7 pm CET. We are taking over the whole pub for the afternoon. FPC would love to see you all there.
You can book your spot for The Cannes Social here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-cannes-social-by-firstpartycapital-exchangewire-tickets-879552945537?aff=oddtdtcreator.
A big shout out to our Cannes Social partners, who will be in attendance at the hottest networking event at Cannes:
There will be no s*** over-the-hill artists on show - just good beer, world-class ad tech chat, and networking.
Faire Des Affaires Sur La Croisette
The FPC team will be roaming La Croissette for most of the Cannes week. We look forward to meeting the industry.
Let's schedule a meeting if you are one of the following:
Prospective LPs: those interested in investing in our fund. (this is top of our list)
Corp Dev: those interested in buying our portfolio companies.
PEs: those looking to help scale our portfolio.
Generalist VC funds: those looking at co-investment and follow-on investment opportunities.
Send your meeting requests to the following address: contact@firstpartycapital.com - or use the link below.
That's it for this ad tech metaphysical special. We will be back in two weeks.