Media and Games Invest acquires Beemray, a Leading Data Targeting SaaS Platform in order to expand its value chain and profit margins

• With Beemray, MGI accomplishes a further strategic acquisition. Beemray is highly synergetic and will be integrated into MGI’s fast growing media segment Verve Group
• Beemray is a leading contextual targeting SaaS platform with privacy-first targeting solutions without the use of cookies or persistent identifiers
• Beemray Oy’s major assets are acquired via an asset deal, including IP rights to patents, computer codes and machine learning algorithms.

May 17, 2021 / 11:45 CEST - Media and Games Invest ("MGI" or the "Company"), strengthens its media segment Verve Group (“Verve”) by acquiring essentially all assets of Beemray Qy, a leading global data platform headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The company is thus approaching its strategic goal to build up a complete value chain in the media sector. This opens up additional potential for MGI to create added value for customers and expand profit margins.

With Verve Group, MGI builds a global transparent vertical omnichannel programmatic SaaS platform which is highly synergetic to its gaming activities which are grouped under gamigo. With well over 10 synergetic acquisitions as well as organic extensions and growth in the media sector, MGI has established a strong fast and profitably growing position in this segment. While already previously having acquired the integral platform components of the digital advertising process - Demand Side Platforms (DSP), Data Management Platforms (DMP) and Supply Side Platforms (SSP) - Verve Group is further looking for logical extensions of its SaaS platform. 

The acquisition of Beemray adds a powerful data management platform to Verve Group’s full-stack suite of programmatic solutions for advertisers and publishers, enabling strong focused contextual targeting, which is an important asset in an advertising world where cookies such as the Apple IDFA are disappearing. Beemray’s proprietary technology combines real-world consumer context with deep learning algorithms for improved audience segmentation and targeting. The technology allows for the creation of real-time, high-quality contextual segments, helping marketers to confidently extend their consumer reach by targeting up-to-the-moment context and complements Verve Group’s robust location and behavioral audience segments that are now expanded globally.

Beemray is a pioneer in the field of contextual segmentation and targeting, having developed machine learning algorithms that leverage semantic-cognitive technology to analyze the user context to deliver timely and relevant engagement. This allows Verve Group’s advertisers to target audiences across web, mobile web, CTV, and mobile in-app based on interest, sentiment, keywords, brand relevance, demographics, and real-time moments. This is in addition to understanding changing consumer behavior through smart analytics and insights. Additionally, Beemray’s solution comes built-in with some of the most advanced brand safety tools available in the market. For publishers, the acquisition presents an opportunity to enrich and activate audience segments for monetization and in-app personalization, while having better control and transparency over the data ingested

The acquisition has been executed as an asset deal, acquiring all of Beemray Oy's major assets, including IP rights to patents, computer codes and machine learning algorithms. The Beemray SaaS platform will be integrated into the Verve Group platform with the plan to further develop the technology. The purchase price is less than one million euros. The parties have agreed not to disclose the exact amount. 

“We have started building the Verve Group out of our need for a strong programmatic advertising solution for our games, not being happy with the advertising solutions offered due to suboptimal targeting and cost inefficiencies. The result: We built up a SaaS platform that meets the requirements of highly demanding customers - advertisers as well as publishers. And that led to fast growing revenues and EBITDA of Verve Group. The programmatic advertising market is very dynamic, changes such as identifiers disappearing and Google and Apple becoming walled gardens, are challenges and opportunities both at the same time. Our main goal in this rapidly changing environment is to enable advertisers to run the most efficient campaigns and achieve high ROI’s while at the same time enabling publishers to monetize their inventory in the best possible way. These seemingly conflicting targets can be accomplished by better targeting, which leads to less ads delivering a better result and as such also allowing higher prices for such better targeted supply inventory. With Beemray, we have gained an essential key technology for better contextual targeting for our gaming unit gamigo as well as for all of Verve Group’s other customers”, says Remco Westermann, CEO and Chairman of MGI.

“Joining MGI’s Media segment Verve Group is a natural fit for Beemray’s long-term vision to offer brand-safe targeting and optimization at a global scale. Verve Group’s presence in every major region, coupled with its success in bringing together unique products to address the needs of different audiences in the advertising ecosystem, makes this a momentous opportunity for the Beemray platform.” says Rami Alanko, Beemray’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Responsible parties

The information in this notice has been made available for publication by the responsible person's agency listed below on the date revealed by MGI's news distributor EQS Newswire at the time of this press release. The responsible persons listed below can be contacted for more information.

For further information, please contact:

Remco Westermann
Chairman of the Board and CEO
+49 40 411 885206

Sören Barz
Head of Investor Relations
+49 170 376 9571
soeren.barz@mgi.group, info@mgi.group
www.mgi.group

Jenny Rosberg, ROPA, IR contact Stockholm
Phone: +46707472741
Mail: Jenny.rosberg@ropa.se

Axel Mühlhaus / Dr. Sönke Knop, edicto GmbH, IR contact Frankfurt
Phone: +49 69 9055 05 51
Mail: mgi@edicto.de

About Media and Games Invest plc

Media and Games Invest plc is a digital integrated games and media company with main operational presence in Europe and North America. The company combines organic growth with value-generating synergetic acquisitions, demonstrating continuous strong, profitable growth with a revenue CAGR of 45% over the last 6 years. Next to strong organic growth, the MGI Group has successfully acquired more than 30 companies and assets in the past 6 years. The acquired assets and companies are integrated and amongst others cloud technology is actively used to achieve efficiency gains and competitive advantages. The Company's shares are listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm and in the Scale segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Company has a secured bond that is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Open Market as well as an unsecured bond listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Open Market.

The Company's certified advisor on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market is FNCA Sweden AB;  info@fnca.se, +46-8-528 00 399.