The Retail Media Deals Keep Coming; Cavai Hires New CEO; And You Need A Drink At Cannes
This is the FirstPartyCapital weekly newsletter. It covers news and updates about the FirstPartyCapital fund and its portfolio companies.
Another Week, Another Retail Media Acquisition
The M&A feeding frenzy in retail media sees no sign of abating - with European startups being the go-to for the majority of the purchases. We are guesstimating (given some deal sizes remain undisclosed) that several billion has been spent on retail media acquisitions in the last 12 months.
Ross Caveille and his team have built an amazing platform, and this purchase will doubtless help The Brandtech Group in the fast-growing retail media segment.
As you know, FPC is heavily invested. We now have 5 portfolio companies in this soon-to-be-worth $100 billion market.
And this is only the beginning: it’s estimated that 7% of the global marketing budget is represented by legacy trade spend (in-store merchandising, print and digital).
With marketing spend predicted to hit $4.5 trillion by 2025, retail media could easily represent several hundred billion of spend - as buyers chase greater addressability and ROAS.
This essentially is a transfer of trade budget spend from legacy to data-driven channels. Ad tech is primed to help both marketers and retailers/ marketplaces make this transition.
There are so many exciting companies being built around attribution, execution, data activation and formats. It remains MadTech’s biggest opportunity.
Cavai Moving Through The Gears As Mats Persson Appointed CEO
Cavai announced this week it is appointing Mats Persson, former COO at Adform, as its new CEO. It’s a clear sign that the company is on a healthy upwards trajectory, bringing in tried and tested talent like Mats to scale the business.
Steffen Svartberg, the former CEO, is going nowhere. He will now be focusing his time on global partnerships and spearheading key growth areas like retail media - which is where FPC thinks the company will achieve the most commercial success.
Steffen is one of the emerging stars of the new post-cookie age, and this move will definitely help Cavai move through the gears. Here’s his hot take on the new hire:
I know first hand that Mats is a phenomenal manager and an inspiring and motivational mentor. In addition to his outstanding leadership and communication skills, he has broad and deep knowledge of the online advertising landscape. He identifies opportunities and solutions, and his visionary mindset, creativity and intuition are second to none. We are delighted to see him join our growing team Cavai and have no doubt that we will benefit hugely from his unique set of skills, as he furthers our culture of innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurialism.
Last Call For Drinks At Cannes
We are getting close to MadTech’s big getaway - kicking off for most this Sunday. We look forward to the madness and the epic networking.
Just a quick reminder that FPC will be hosting drinks on Wednesday between 4pm and 6pm. Details on the event can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/firstpartycapital-drinks-cannes-lions-tickets-362992890507
We have over 100 registered so no doubt we will end up taking over a small corner Cannes for those two hours.
Have a great weekend, readers.