Ybrant becomes one of India's biggest ad agencies (archives)
Photo: AP
Israeli startup making it big in India
Digital advertising network Ybrant quietly devouring local companies. 'We are the largest Internet company in the country," claims President Kobi Nizri
In 2007, Israeli Internet company Oridian was acquired by an unknown Indian advertising corporation by the name of Ybrant for a mere $20 million. The deal did not reverberate in the headlines and it seemed to amount to just another story about a takeover of an Israeli company by a larger company.
Today, Ybrant is regarded as one of the largest advertising agencies among Australia, Israel and most LATAM country agencies and is among the top five agencies outside the US. Ybrant is the fifth largest advertiser on Facebook.
No one could have fathomed that within just four years, the tables would turn and Oridian's Israeli managers Jacob Nizri and Gal Ekstein, who operate the company from its headquarters in Herzliya, would run the global corporation with a $350 million turnover and 1,200 employees, 90 of which work in the company's offices in Israel.
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Several small-scale acquisitions performed recently by Ybrant such as the acquisition of online image rights manager Pincapp and Israeli mobile advertising agency Web 3, have attracted attention to the company.
In early August, the company merged with Indian LGS and today Nizri is the president of the global corporation. The company’s India headquarters manage the company's financial affairs and it is currently engaged in preparations for an IPO on the Mumbai stock exchange.
Recently we have been witnessing the consolidation of the digital advertising market: We're seeing more and more mergers and acquisitions on the market. A point in case are Dotomi and Eyeblaster.
"This is evident in the forthcoming IPOs from companies such as Groupon and Tumbler which will raise a dust cloud that will compel other companies join the party," says Nizri. "There are many advertising networks, many of which are in Israel, that are seeking to acquire new technologies on which to expand their activity, such as cellular advertising agencies, surf pattern analysis technologies and real-time advertisement targeting technologies."
Will you an acquiring or a target?
"We have no intention of being acquired. My colleagues in Israel and myself have already made our exit at the end of 2007, in the nick of time before the market's big crash. Now we are part of an Indian company which induces an atmosphere of what I call 'Indian patience'. We're on the fast track to growth and in three years we will further develop our vision by performing local mergers and acquisitions."
Commonly, acquisitions by a large company result in bitter disappointment. In your case things were different but you're growing more in India than you are in Israel.
"If you can merge with a foreign company but keep the core in Israel, than why not? Still, the cost of labor in India is a fifth of what it is in Israel but it's clear that an Israeli employee is better in thinking out of the box than his Indian counterpart."
What are your plans for after the offering?
"We want to make it into the world's top 10 digital advertising companies. Our model is ValueClick which acquired Dotomi about a month ago. And it can be done: five years ago we only made $10 million. Today we're the largest digital company in Israel and manage $250 million a year."
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