Update: Rude Baguette has received confirmation of the acquisition from a Criteo spokesperson, adding, “The team will be a great addition to our staff. They have joined with immediate effect.”
Criteo has acquired Paris-based Search Ad specialist AdQuantic for an undisclosed sum, TechCrunch reported this week. The Paris-based startup was co-founded by Olivier De Taisne & Cedric Chanal in 2010, and had already raised at least 600,000€ to develop their technology for optimization of search ads across Google, Bing & other search engines.
Back in 2013, AdQuantic had told JournalDuNet they planned to raise a €1-3 Million Series A in 2014 – it would seem that the fundraising goal turned into an acquisition.
Criteo previously acquired Email advertising specialist Tedemis for €21M, demonstrating that the company is planning to spread out of display retargeting and into other advertising models.
.@Criteo's 2nd acquisition is huge because:
1) Their French: great M&A sign
2) Search: going beyond Display Ads
http://t.co/OA0lCwxPKU— liam (@LiamBoogar) April 11, 2014
The German Sociomantic, widely considered to be Criteo’s largest competitor, was acquired recently as well by Dunnhumby (Tesco), proving that there is an appetite for retargeting display technology. Criteo’s stock has dipped since February; however, analysts predict it will cap at $55 (currently trading around $37 as of End of Day April 10th), close to its all-time high achieved back in February.