- GeneralSPAC
- March 22, 2021
- 5 minutes read
Mobile App Monetization Company ironSource To Go Public With $11B SPAC Deal
Just that moment when you start to chill after taking a break from writing about numerous SPAC merger deals, there’s…
Just that moment when you start to chill after taking a break from writing about numerous SPAC merger deals, there’s that new one to always pop up and crash the break, and that new one today is ironSource, a mobile app monetization company based in Israel.
ironSource has announced an agreement to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. It’ll merge with Thoma Bravo Advantage (NYSE: TBA) in a deal valuing it at $11.1 billion.
Thoma Bravo Advantage raised $1 billion from an initial public offering (IPO) in January, money that’ll now be handed over to ironSource with its merger, plus a $1.3 billion PIPE round committed to the company by a mix of investors including Tiger Global, Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), Wellington Group, investment firm Fidelity, and hedge fund Baupost Group.
- From its merger, ironSource will get $2.3 billion of cash proceeds, marking one of the biggest SPAC deals of the past year.
- ironSource is a monetization platform for mobile apps, mostly video games in its case. It’s a platform letting developers publish and build apps to scale into scalable businesses by offering monetization options through multiple channels including distribution deals with telecom operators like Orange and Samsung. For example, Join Clash 3D, a mobile game that’s topped download charts this year is published on ironSource.
- ironSource’s business is divided into two main platforms – ironSource Sonic which supports developers to launch and monetize their games, and ironSource Aura supporting app distribution through the company’s telecom partners.
- ironSource has a healthy business that brought in $332 million in revenue in 2020, with 94% of that amount coming from 291 mobile app customers with over $100k in annual revenue. This signals a high concentration of revenue in bigger and established mobile app developers, a plus for revenue stability.
- ironSource’s 2020 revenue grew 83% compared to the previous year, 2019.
- ironSource’s merger with Thoma Bravo’s SPAC is expected to close sometime in the second quarter of 2021. It represents a landmark deal for Thoma Bravo, which’s a major private equity investor in the software world with over 300 investments to its name. The firm has $77 billion of assets under management.
- “Joining forces with Thoma Bravo Advantage to bring ironSource to the public markets presents an opportunity to partner with the world’s leading software investor to achieve the next level of growth,” ironSource’s CEO Tomer Bar Zeev said in a statement. The company notes that it was previously pursuing a traditional IPO before switching sides to take the SPAC route to the public markets
