Providence buys Smartly.io majority stake

The company's management team will retain a significant minority stake.

Smartly.io is valued at €300m and is set to generate revenues of €70m in 2019, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The GP said in a statement that it plans to invest in the growth of the company's software platform, including via acquisitions. It also aims to increase the company's presence in the US and other markets.

Laura Desmond, an operating partner at Providence, has joined Smartly.io's board of directors as chairperson.

The US-based GP used no debt for the transaction and deployed €200m in equity from Providence Equity Partners VIII, which held a final close in September 2019 on $6bn. The fund writes equity cheques of $150-500m per company for businesses with enterprise values of $500m-2bn.

Previous funding
Lifeline Ventures led a €2.5m series-A round for Simply.io in April 2015. The firm also invested $20m in a financing round in 2017.

Company
Smartly.io is a digital advertising platform that assists advertisers with their creative and advertisement operations across Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. The company has been in partnership with Facebook since 2014.

The business was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Helsinki, with operations in 16 countries and a headcount of 350. It reports revenues of $28m, according to Zoominfo.

People
Smartly.io – Kristo Ovaska (CEO, founder).
Providence Equity Partners – Laura Desmond (operating partner).

Advisers
Equity – Debevoise & Plimpton (legal); Krogerus (legal).
Vendor – Macquarie Capital (corporate finance); Hannes Snellman (legal).

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