- MediaMath Founder Joe Zawadzki is formalizing a bid to buy back the bankrupt adtech company.
- “Project Phoenix” is seeking to raise at least $10 million in a SAFE financing.
- Project Phoenix is being operated by team members of Zawadzki’s VC fund AperiamVentures.
MediaMath founder and former CEO Joe Zawadzki is pressing ahead with his plan to buy back the company’s assets at its upcoming bankruptcy auction by forming a syndicate of investors that is calling itself “Project Phoenix,” according to people familiar with the matter.
Project Phoenix, which is being operated by team members of Zawadzki’s venture capital firm AperiamVentures, is seeking to raise up to $10 million through a SAFE — simple agreement for future equity — according to documentation seen by Insider.
Project Phoenix, registered as Phoenix Project Acquisition Inc., is raising the investment with a “post-money valuation cap” of $20 million — the maximum price at which investors can convert their SAFE investment notes into equity.
Project Phoenix has said SAFE investments will be converted into preferred shares if and when the acquired company raises its first equity round, according to the documentation.
A person familiar with the matter said it was likely Project Phoenix would need to raise further funds if it wins the auction. Ordinarily a bidder in a bankruptcy auction must produce a substantial deposit and documentation demonstrating that it can close the transaction. There’s no guarantee it would submit the winning bid.
Jeffrey Hirsch, a former executive at the adtech companies PubMatic, AudienceScience, and ValueClick, is listed as Project Phoenix’s president in the documentation. His listed email address uses an AperiamPartners domain. Three separate sources familiar with the matter also confirmed Hirsch’s involvement.
Zawadzki and Hirsch didn’t respond to a request for comment.
MediaMath’s bankruptcy auction is due to take place on Monday, August 14 in a Delaware court — though it has been delayed once before and could be again. Project Phoenix has told prospective investors they have until Friday, August 11 to sign documentation and wire their funds to the SAFE, according to the documentation.
An early pioneer of the New York adtech scene, 16-year-old MediaMath ultimately struggled to keep up with rivals like Google, Amazon, and The Trade Desk. After MediaMath’s private equity owner declined to release any more financing earlier this year and a would-be buyer unexpectedly walked away, MediaMath crashed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 30.
MediaMath owes at least $125 million to hundreds of creditors, according to the bankruptcy filings. Any buyer of its assets would be free of the liabilities tied up with the bankruptcy process.
Zawadzki had hinted to Insider last month that he would be interested in picking up MediaMath’s assets.
“I’d love to see this thing become an industry utility,” Zawadzki told Insider at the time. “I would love to see a ‘Project Phoenix’ here.”
Zawadzki, who was ousted by MediaMath’s board in 2021, has said he intends to be executive chairman of the revived MediaMath if the auction bid is successful, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
Project Phoenix plans to recruit back former MediaMath employees, as well as some clients who had found it difficult to migrate to rival demand-side platforms in the aftermath of the company’s collapse, the person said. Many of AperiamVentures clients also used MediaMath as a DSP, so would likely switch the technology back on, the person added.
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