Outbrain, a leading recommendation platform for the open web, has announced that, as part of its strategic financing plan, it has secured $200 million in funding from investment manager The Baupost Group.
“We are excited to announce this investment from The Baupost Group, who share our vision and commitment for our business, our team and our future prospects” said David Kostman, Co-CEO of Outbrain.
“We proudly lead the recommendation space we created. We have bold plans for the future to continue delivering critical innovation to our premium media partners worldwide and expanding our powerful open web global advertising platform” added Yaron Galai, co-founder and Co-CEO of Outbrain.
Jefferies and Citigroup served as placement agents to Outbrain. Mayer Brown LLP served as legal counsel to Outbrain. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal counsel to Baupost.
The Baupost Group is a Boston-based investment manager with a long-term, value-oriented approach. Since 1982, the firm has been thoughtfully stewarding and compounding capital on behalf of families, foundations and endowments, as well as employees who collectively are the firm’s largest client. Baupost manages roughly $31 billion with a broad and flexible charter, investing in a wide range of asset classes, including significant holdings in publicly traded debt and equity securities, private debt, real estate, and private equity. CEO and portfolio manager Seth Klarman has overseen Baupost’s investments from the company’s inception.
Earlier this year, Outbrain announced a partnership with KaiOS Technologies, a mobile operating system for smart feature phones. Outbrain will monetize KaiOS’ owned-and-operated and third-party inventory globally across over 100 million feature phones through the partnership.
KaiOS is a mobile operating system that has seen fast growth across the APAC region. The system has enabled millions to connect to the internet for the first time in emerging markets via a range of low-cost but high-functionality mobile devices.
With over 140 million users across the globe, KaiOS is ready to offer a highly engaged audience, untapped market, new native ad formats across its applications through the use of Outbrain’s technology.