Dailyhunt Parent Acquires Majority Stake in Data Firm Valueleaf to Boost Ad Performance

Dailyhunt’s parent company, VerSe, has acquired a majority stake in Valueleaf, a data-driven marketing company, to strengthen its advertising capabilities. This deal, announced on Wednesday, will help VerSe improve its ad targeting and deliver better results for its advertisers.

The acquisition is expected to add $100 million in revenue with a 10% profit margin by FY25. Although the deal involves both cash and stock, the exact value and percentage of the stake were not disclosed.

VerSe’s co-founders, Virendra Gupta and Umang Bedi, said that combining Valueleaf’s data insights with their ad tech platform will enhance advertising efficiency and create more valuable partnerships.

This move follows VerSe’s recent acquisition of Magzter, a US-based subscription service, marking its entry into international markets. VerSe, valued at $5 billion, has been actively acquiring companies to grow its core businesses, which include news, infotainment, short videos, and adtech.

Founded in 2006, Valueleaf specializes in programmatic performance marketing, which involves targeting ads to specific audiences based on user behavior. In FY23, Valueleaf’s revenue doubled to ₹281 crore, although its net profit slightly decreased to ₹11 crore.

With this acquisition, VerSe will integrate Valueleaf’s data insights into its own advertising platform, NexVerse.AI, boosting its ability to retarget ads and increasing revenue. Although the two companies will collaborate closely, they will continue to report their financials separately.

Despite some slowdown in the ad market, VerSe is optimistic about growth. The company’s revenue increased by 51% in FY23, and its losses have significantly reduced. VerSe is now focused on expanding its digital marketing efforts, especially in programmatic advertising, which Bedi believes offers better conversion rates than non-targeted ads.