Converged TV Pioneer Cadent Acquired by Novacap

Novacap’s TMT VI Fund announces its fourth acquisition, investing in Cadent, a foundational player in the converged TV advertising technology sector.

MONTREAL, QC AND NEW YORK, NY, August 9th, 2023 – Novacap, one of North America’s established private equity firms, is delighted to announce the successful acquisition of Cadent, a leading provider of platform-based converged TV advertising solutions. This partnership marks the fourth investment under Novacap’s TMT VI Fund. Cadent has rapidly transformed from an early leader in cable and broadcast aggregation to one of the largest independent platforms for unified audience targeting across connected television (CTV), traditional TV, and digital advertising.

The company’s blue-chip roster of customers includes global agency holding companies and media buying agencies, over 70 of the Ad Age Top 100 advertisers, and scaled global publishers and content distributors. Cadent Aperture Platform boasts nearly 300 partner connections in its ecosystem, and holds numerous technology patents for identity management, audience targeting, and advertising monetization.

The Novacap-Cadent partnership emerges in a time of rapidly shifting audience viewing habits, marked by a pivot towards digital streaming platforms and devices. As audience consumption becomes increasingly fragmented, the technology solutions Cadent provides become critical for advertisers seeking to maintain and amplify their reach and audience targeting capabilities across any TV device or service.

Pascal Tremblay, Managing Partner in TMT, and CEO at Novacap, states, “Cadent, as a pioneer in converged TV advertising, embodies the kind of innovative, growth-focused company we aim to partner with. Our extensive capabilities in accelerating high-growth technology companies make us an ideal partner to support Cadent.”

“The completion of this transaction marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Cadent,” added Nick Troiano, CEO at Cadent, “Our customer focus and dedication remains unchanged, and we expect that our partnership with Novacap will only accelerate our vision of the future of advertising – one that is audience-first, data-infused, and activated seamlessly across all converged media.”

“The Cadent Leadership Team successfully transformed the company into a leader of converged TV solutions. We are at the beginning of a fundamental shift in TV advertising, and with strategic investments and acquisitions we believe Cadent will continue to propel forward as an innovator in the converged marketplace,” said Samuel Nasso, Principal at Novacap.

Evercore served as the lead financial advisor, Stifel served as co-advisor, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as the legal advisor to Cadent and Lee Equity Partners.

RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities and Scotiabank acted as financial advisors and provided financing to Novacap and Baker Botts L.L.P acted as legal advisor to the firm.

About Cadent

Cadent connects the TV advertising ecosystem.  We help advertisers and publishers identify and understand audiences, activate campaigns, and measure what matters – across any TV content or device. Aperture, our converged TV platform, simplifies cross-screen advertising through a streamlined workflow that brings together identity, data, and inventory with hundreds of integrated partners. For more information, visit cadent.tv or follow @CadentTV.

About Novacap

Founded in 1981, Novacap is a leading North American private equity firm with over C$8B of AUM that has invested in more than 100 platform companies and completed more than 150 add-on acquisitions. Applying its sector-focused approach since 2007 in Industries, TMT, Financial Services, and Digital Infrastructure, Novacap’s deep domain expertise can accelerate company growth and create long-term value. With experienced, dedicated investment and operations teams as well as substantial capital, Novacap has the resources and knowledge that help build world-class businesses. Novacap has offices in Montreal, Toronto, and New York.

For more information, please visit www.novacap.ca.

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