Marketbridge Acquires B2B Advertising Startup Channel99
Marketbridge, a 35-year-old B2B marketing firm, acquires Channel99, a B2B advertising and analytics startup, to expand its portfolio. The acquisition aims to fill a gap in Marketbridge's services stack with Channel99's agentic search analytics capabilities.
Original reporting · adexchanger.com
Original: “Marketbridge Acquires The B2B Advertising And Analytics Startup Channel99”
Read “Marketbridge Acquires The B2B Advertising And Analytics Startup Channel99” at AdExchanger →
How this was written. Awesome B2B wrote this article with a language model from AdExchanger’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from AdExchanger’s report
- Marketbridge has acquired Channel99, a B2B advertising and analytics startup, to expand its portfolio of agency and consultancy services businesses.
- Channel99 provides agentic search analytics capabilities, which will enhance Marketbridge's services stack and enable it to create an attribution framework for agentic performance.
- Marketbridge's acquisition model is centralized and nonduplicative, unlike the traditional holding company model, and is focused on integrating acquired businesses to provide comprehensive services to clients.
Marketbridge, a B2B marketing firm, has acquired Channel99, a B2B advertising and attribution tech company, according to AdExchanger. The acquisition is part of Marketbridge's strategy to expand its portfolio of agency and consultancy services businesses. Marketbridge has been a recent acquirer of such businesses, and the addition of Channel99 is expected to enhance its services stack.
Channel99 was founded in 2022 by Chris Golec, who is also the founder and CEO of Demandbase, a B2B demand-side platform. However, Channel99 is not a traditional DSP, as it spans multiple platforms, including Microsoft/LinkedIn, Google, Meta, and other business media and influence hubs. This allows Channel99 to provide a unique set of services to its clients.
Marketbridge CEO Bob Ray stated that Channel99 fills an important gap in the company's services stack as an agentic search analytics provider. Channel99's software helps clients answer questions about their services' ranking in LLM chatbot responses and how paid media and marketing tactics affect performance in agentic or generative search platforms. This capability is expected to be a key differentiator for Marketbridge.
The acquisition of Channel99 is also expected to enable Marketbridge to create an attribution framework to understand how agentic performance contributes to sales or conversions. This framework will be similar to those used by media buyers to measure the effectiveness of other channels. By acquiring Channel99, Marketbridge is taking a significant step towards becoming a technology-enabled service company.
The deal between Marketbridge and Channel99 was facilitated by the prior relationship between Ray and Golec, who are old acquaintances and live in the same Bay Area community. They had discussed their respective businesses and came to the conclusion that independent technology companies like Channel99 were struggling to achieve relevance with large platforms and big clients. This realization led to the decision to acquire Channel99 and integrate it into Marketbridge's portfolio.
Marketbridge's acquisition model is centralized and nonduplicative, unlike the traditional holding company model, which allows acquired agencies to operate independently. Ray described Marketbridge as a 'next-gen integrated agency consulting company', highlighting its focus on integrating acquired businesses to provide a comprehensive set of services to clients. The acquisition of Channel99 is expected to further enhance Marketbridge's capabilities in this regard.
The acquisition is also expected to benefit Channel99, which will now have access to more resources and expertise as part of a larger services group. Golec stated that he was persuaded by Ray's passion for becoming a technology-enabled service company, and the two companies had already partnered on events and pitched enterprise companies together before the acquisition.
Questions and answers
What is Channel99 and what services does it provide?
Channel99 is a B2B advertising and attribution tech company that provides agentic search analytics capabilities, helping clients answer questions about their services' ranking in LLM chatbot responses and how paid media and marketing tactics affect performance in agentic or generative search platforms.
Why did Marketbridge acquire Channel99?
Marketbridge acquired Channel99 to fill a gap in its services stack with Channel99's agentic search analytics capabilities and to expand its portfolio of agency and consultancy services businesses.
What is Marketbridge's acquisition model and how does it differ from the traditional holding company model?
Marketbridge's acquisition model is centralized and nonduplicative, unlike the traditional holding company model, which allows acquired agencies to operate independently. Marketbridge integrates acquired businesses to provide a comprehensive set of services to clients.
