Martin Sorrell, the founder of WPP and pure-play digital advertising group S4 Capital, has launched a venture capital fund to invest in early-stage technology companies serving the marketing and advertising sectors.
S4S Ventures has a target to raise up to $US150 million to invest in companies across: Martech, Adtech, Data Technology, Creative Technology, and Emerging Digital Media/Content.
The fund, started by Sorrell and global investmnet fund Stanhope Capital Group, will focus on the next wave of digital transformation.
Sorrell is investing personal funds. S4 Capital is not.
However, the fund will benefit from the support of the S4 Capital network, with more than 7,500 people operating from 33 countries, and from Stanhope’s established investment expertise and track record in both private and public markets.
The fund is particularly interested in companies providing solutions for:
- acceleration of programmatic advertising across Connected TV, gaming and digital audio ecosystems,
- data warehousing, ingestion and analysis for the purposes of identity resolution,
- transformation of content development and underlying workflows, by leveraging cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure,
- monetisation of metaverse opportunities, through development of software tools to facilitate/enable brand and creator participation, and
- emerging digital media capturing the attention of Generation Z.
Deal activity and public offerings in the advertising and marketing technology industry are rising as the sector gets a boost from digitisation, accelerated by the pandemic.
Global digital ad spend in 2021 was $491.7 billion, a 29.1% increase, according to eMarketer.
S4S will be led by Sanja Partalo, a digital industry specialist and investor who was formerly Global Head of Strategic Development and Partnerships at WPP.
Sir Martin: “S4S’s aim is to be a very engaged and creative equity owner. The fund will provide investee companies with more than capital – offering differentiated value through the advantage afforded by the S4 network and our specialist knowledge with geographical, client and talent inputs.
"We are in a strong position to help portfolio companies validate ideas, launch products, accelerate growth with clients and partners and help engineer strategic partnerships, investments and exits.”
Partalo, co-founder and managing partner of S4S: “We are entering ‘Web 3.0’ – the next stage of digital evolution. It is an incredibly fertile environment for start-ups which are focused on transforming the marketing and advertising sector through new technologies.
"Regulatory, demographic and technological catalysts – such as a stricter privacy and regulatory environment for the tech giants, the rise of Gen Z, the democratization of AI infrastructure, and the dawn of the Metaverse – mean that this segment of the venture market benefits from significant tailwinds, presenting an exciting opportunity for investors.”
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