Adtech Startup Vertoz Acquires Minority Stake In Cheerio

SUMMARY

With this acquisition, Vertoz aims to expand its position in the marketing & advertising technology industry

The leadership team of Vertoz sees potential in Cheerio’s technology and its team’s expertise

As part of the deal, Vertoz will have access to Cheerio's marketing automation technologies

Tech-based digital marketing and advertising startup Vertoz Advertising on Tuesday said (June 13) announced that it has secured minority stake of 1.82% in marketing automation startup Cheerio.

With this investment, Vertoz aims to use the synergies between the two companies and expand its position in the marketing & advertising technology industry, it said in a statement.

While Vertoz issued the statement on Tuesday, it disclosed the investment in Cheerio to the NSE last month. As per its filing with the exchange, it acquired the stake in Cheerio for INR 15 Lakh.

Founded in 2012 by Ashish Shah and Hiren Shah, Vertoz aims at delivering data driven targeted campaigns to enable businesses generate the best outcomes for digital marketers and companies alike. It operates globally, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India and another in New York.

Commenting on the investment in Cheerio, Vertoz’s whole-time director and founder, Hiren Shah said, “This partnership allows us to further enhance our capabilities in marketing automation and strengthens our position as a leader in the marketing and advertising technology space.”

He furthered that the leadership team of Vertoz sees potential in Cheerio’s technology and its team’s expertise.

As a part of the deal, Vertoz will have access to Cheerio’s marketing automation technologies which will allow the business to optimise its advertising campaigns, increase consumer segmentation, and provide personalised content at a scale across multiple channels.

Commenting on the investment, Cheerio’s founders Nishant Das and Avinash Upadhyay said, “This investment gives new opportunities for growth and innovation in addition to validating the power of our marketing automation platform.”

Established in 2021, Cheerio helps ecommerce businesses increase repeat revenue by helping them remarket their products over email, sms and WhatsApp.

It must be noted that Vertoz also found a mention in Inc42’s exclusive story earlier this month on the implosion of Rahul Yadav’s Broker Network. The employees of the Info Edge-backed startup alleged that Broker Network paid INR 11.8 Cr to Vertoz to undertake an advertising campaign in Pune despite the latter not having any background in outdoor advertising.

Advertising and marketing are integral to any business. Leveraging tech for the purpose in the digital era has no alternative. This significantly drives growth in the marketing and advertising industry.

According to Inc42’s findings, Meesho spent INR 2,579.30 Cr on advertising in FY22 followed by Flipkart (INR 1,945.90 Cr) and Mamaearth (INR 390.6 Cr).

Ecommerce platforms Snapdeal, Lenskart, Cars24 and Spinny also recorded advertising promotional expenses of more than INR 200 Cr in that financial year.

In April, meme marketing startup Wubba Lubba Dub Dub (WLDD) raised $1.25 Mn to accelerate growth.

Yet another startup in the space QuickReply.ai raised $1.14 Mn in a seed funding round led to enable businesses conduct marketing activities over WhatsApp.

Update: June 14, 03:30 PM IST | The story has been edited to add more details about the deal and Vertoz.