• KKR is in talks to acquire ad tech company Integral Ad Science, sources told Business Insider.
• IAS commissioned investment bank Jefferies to explore options after receiving takeover interest.
• IAS competes closely with DoubleVerify, although it is smaller in terms of revenue and market capitalization.

Private equity firm KKR is in talks to acquire publicly traded adtech company Integral Ad Science, three people familiar with the process said.

It could not immediately be determined whether discussions were at an advanced stage and plans could change.

One of those people and another source said other potential buyers had also expressed interest in IAS, but had not provided further information. All individuals requested anonymity to protect their business relationships; their identity is known to Business Insider.

Bloomberg reported last month that IAS had instructed investment bank Jefferies to explore its options after receiving takeover interest. IAS shares jumped more than 10% on the news at the time.

KKR and IAS declined to comment.

Founded in the United States in 2009, IAS provides technology that advertisers use to measure the quality and performance of their ads and to help them prevent their campaigns from appearing alongside inappropriate content. It also offers solutions to publishers that help them ensure their ads are viewable, fraud-free, and placed in brand-friendly environments.

IAS has recently signed new or expanded partnerships with major technology companies like Google, Amazon and Reddit. In the second quarter, the company increased its revenue by 14%, to $129 million, and raised its guidance for the full year. IAS is due to release its third quarter results on November 12.

A take-private deal by a private equity firm like KKR could help IAS continue to grow without Wall Street’s quarterly scrutiny. IAS was previously a private equity firm after it was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2018. Vista retains a more than 40% stake in IAS, which went public in 2021.

KKR already has a footprint in the advertising industry. It has stakes in public ad tech company AppLovin, corporate communications company FGS Global and customer experience software provider Alchemer.

(KKR was also a shareholder in Business Insider’s parent company, Axel Springer. In September, Axel Springer announced that it separated its media properties into a private company, while KKR retained the classifieds side of the business.)

KKR has more than 600 billion dollars in assets under management.

Ted Oberwagera KKR partner who leads the gaming, entertainment, media and sports verticals, told BI earlier this year that the firm seeks to invest in companies with “excellent teams and leaders who can adapt to the rapid evolution of advertising, marketing and sport. communication landscapes.

IAS competes fiercely with ad verification rival DoubleVerify, which is larger in terms of annual revenue and has a market capitalization of $3.3 billion compared to IAS’s $1.99 billion at the moment. of publication.

Both companies were recently the subject of a scrutiny after a series of reports revealed that their advertising clients had served ads in disreputable corners of the web, such as sites with graphically violent, racist or pornographic content, despite the use of the companies’ brand safety software. The companies have challenged the methodologies and conclusions of these reports.

The publishers also critical Brand protection methods such as keyword blocking and exclusion lists (words that trigger ad blocking on a web page) are crude instruments that unfairly demonetize their content. IAS and DoubleVerify said they have refined their brand safety tools by pushing further into areas such as AI and other technologies that analyze the context and semantics of an article.