- MediaMath Cofounder and CEO Joe Zawadzki is assembling a syndicate to buy back the company.
- It comes after MediaMath filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
- Zawadzki left MediaMath in 2021.
MediaMath cofounder Joe Zawadzki is looking to assemble a syndicate of adtech industry investors to attempt to buy back the company’s assets at its upcoming bankruptcy auction, according to people familiar with the matter.
The auction for the now-liquidated company’s assets is set to take place in the Delaware bankruptcy court on August 8 at 4 p.m. eastern time.
“There are a lot of people in the adtech community who have maybe some combination of sympathy and support for Joe and the employees and also believe there could be some residual value there,” said a person with direct knowledge of Zawadzki’s syndicate.
Zawadzki’s plans could still change and there is no guarantee the syndicate would win any bid to acquire all or some of its assets.
A spokesperson for MediaMath declined to comment. Zawadzki didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Were Zawadzki to be successful, it would be a remarkable return for the company’s former CEO, who was seen as the face of MediaMath up until his departure in 2021.
Founded in 2007, MediaMath was an early adtech pioneer that claims to have invented the demand-side platform — technology that allows advertisers to place ads across the web using automation. Former employees and industry observers have said Zawadzki’s MediaMath was also ahead of its time developing tools to demystify how digital ad dollars were being spent.
MediaMath grew to more than 700 people and courted — but ultimately turned down — acquisition offers from larger companies like IBM, Bain Capital, and Singtel.
The company hit a rough patch in 2020 amid the pandemic advertising slowdown, and tough competition from the likes of The Trade Desk and Google. It started to run out of money and Zawadzki was out a year later after the company failed to line up new financing or a buyer.
The company appeared to be stabilizing, but suddenly crumbled when its new CEO Neil Nguyen was given unexpected notice from its private-equity owner to sell the company in less than three months, or find new investors.
The company came close to a deal with a new buyer, Media and Games Invest, but when MGI walked away, MediaMath was left with no cash runway and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 30, ceasing operations that day. 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 earlier this 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.”
It’s unclear what Zawadzki’s plans are for MediaMath the second time around — though a second person with direct knowledge of the matter said the new company would certainly look to bring back former employees who understand the code.
Two adtech industry sources who had indirect knowledge of the syndicate, but were not involved and hadn’t discussed it with Zawadzki, suggested he might look to integrate it with his new fintech startup. Zawadzki is now chairman of FxM, a fintech startup that aims to offer financing to adtech and media companies in order to put less strain on their working capital. MediaMath’s supply chain optimization assets could become the backbone of FxM’s “SCF+” supply chain financing product, the adtech industry sources suggested.
Zawadzki is also a general partner at the venture capital firm AperiamVentures, which has invested in dozens of adtech startups.
Read the full article here