SUBITO.IT ACQUIRES DOTADV WITHIN A COLLABORATION WITH DIGITAL MAGICS
Dotadv, the Italian startup that automates the direct sale of online advertising spaces, has been structured by the incubator Digital Magics
Subito.it, the company that owns the digital platform of the same name dedicated to the second-hand market, has made the acquisition in partnership with Digital Magics
Milan, February 5, 2015 – Subito.it, the digital platform no. 1 in Italy for the second-hand market, with over 8.8 million unique users per month*, and Digital Magics – certified incubator of innovative digital startups and digital scaleups, listed on the AIM market of the Italian Stock Exchange (symbol: DM) – have teamed up in order to find and develop innovative solutions for the digital platform of Subito.it. The first result has been reflected in the acquisition of the startup Dotadv by Subito.it.
Dotadv is the first Italian platform dedicated to SMEs, for the automatic management of online advertising. Dotadv seamlessly integrates with the editorial and managerial processes of the publisher. The relationship between Subito.it and Dotadv, as regards local advertising and small advertisers, was born in 2014. Having recognized the potential and capabilities, in addition to the extremely scalable business model, Subito.it decided to extend and implement the technology and Dotadv proprietary software – developed by the founders Fausto Preste, Lorenzo Marzullo, David Fiorentini, Arrigo Benedetti Ciampi – by integrating the platform and making it become their own corporate asset.
The sale transaction to Subito.it was structured by Digital Magics’ professionals, , specialists in finance and management of digital business. The process – initiated and completed for Dotadv very quickly – is in line with the high-profile services of incubation and acceleration that Digital Magics offers to startups and scaleups present in its portfolio, and with the Open Innovation programs born to support Italian companies in their internal innovation, through digital startups.
Founded in 2012, Dotadv developed a self-service advertising platform that automates the sale of advertising spaces on the web in a few simple clicks for both publishers and advertisers. The basis of the idea is self-provisioning: the investor accesses the offer of the publisher, chooses the spaces, configures the campaign and creates the banner during the purchasing process. Once the order is received, the publisher directs and approves the quality control process, and the ADV campaign is then ready to go online. In the first two years of activity, major publishers like Citynews (MilanoToday, RomaToday, NapoliToday), Gruppo Monrif (QN, Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione, Il Giorno) and Fanpage.it, in addition to Subito.it chose the technology Dotadv.
“The acquisition of Dotadv aims to strengthen the positioning and leadership of Subito.it in local advertising and small-medium enterprises market,” said Melany Libraro, General Manager of Subito.it. “With the integration of the platform, Subito.it dealership will offer all its customers solutions more and more customizable. Subito.it will continue to work with Digital Magics and with other incubators in order to find and develop innovative solutions for its digital platform”.
Alessandro Malacart, Partner and Digital Magics’ co-CEO, declared: “Through the collaboration with Dotadv, we immediately recognized the value of the team and the technological service. A few months ago they asked for our support in the process of acceleration and sale, considering the skills and experience of the team of Digital Magics. We decided to support Fausto Preste and the other founders to give a signal to the ecosystem of venture capital and to the Italian enterprises. There are still a few M&A operations on startups in Italy and the fact that a rapidly growing reality as Subito.it and its international industrial group have decided to invest in Italian digital technology, by acquiring it, is to be an example for all.”
Fausto Preste, Founder of Dotadv, said: “The Adventure of Dotadv consists in optimizing processes common to the entire industry of online advertising, but Subito.it immediately showed attention for our model and extraordinary speed in implementing it effectively. The acquisition was the natural evolution of a partnership aimed at creating new value. Digital Magics played a key role in the operation, which would have been difficult to approach for a startup like Dotadv, because of its complexity”.
*Source: Audiweb Total Digital Audience – October 2014
Subito.it
Subito.it is the company that owns the digital platform for the secondhand market Subito.it (www.subito.it). Born in Milan in 2007, Subito.it wants to offer the easiest, fastest and safest online service for secondhand sale-purchase, to achieve excellent business through service effectiveness, quality and breadth of offering. With over 5 million of ads, differentiated by product categories and geographical location, more than 8.8 million unique users per month (Audiweb Total Digital Audience – October 2014) and more than 30 million page views daily, Subito.it is the first ad service and among the top six most visited sites in Italy.
Subito.it is part of Schibsted Media Group (www.schibsted.com), Norwegian multinational that operates successfully in 29 countries in the publishing (newspapers and free press), online (sale-purchase ad sites and digital services) and mobile markets.
Digital Magics – www.digitalmagics.com
Digital Magics – www.digitalmagics.com Digital Magics is a venture incubator for innovative digital startups that offer content and services with a high technological value. Digital Magics is listed on AIM Italia, the alternative capital market dedicated to small and medium-sized Italian enterprises with high growth potential, organised and managed by the Italian Stock Exchange. Digital Magics builds and develops Internet startups, working alongside their founders, investing its capital and providing acceleration services. It starts with talent and ideas and transforms them into businesses successful in the Italian and international digital economies. The incubator promotes a culture of entrepreneurship and risk, contributing to economic growth and employment for young people. Digital Magics offers services to support innovation, creation and development of digital startups and it supports them in the search for new Italian, international, private and public investors to fund the successive stages of development. The Digital Magics model is unique in Italy and is based around the Digital Magics LAB: the team that identifies, analyses and launches new initiatives, providing innovative startups with digital business acceleration services for company development. Digital Magics has a track record of 40 investments in startups. It has achieved 6 exits and only 4 write-offs. To date, the incubator has invested approximately €14.8 million, of which 5 million comes from exits. Currently, the average investment is around €300,000.
Integrae SIM acts as a Nomad and Specialist under the AIM Italia Issuers Regulations. For communication transmissions, Digital Magics makes use of the SDIR-NIS system, operated by BIt Market Services, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.
For further information:
Subito.it – PR Manager
Federico Filippa – Mail: federico.filippa@subito.it
Tel. 02 36637031 – Mob. 340 3864871
Digital Magics – Press Office
Giorgio Bocchieri – Mail: giorgio.bocchieri@digitalmagics.com
Tel. 02 52505202 – Mob. 334 6853078
IR Top – Investor Relations
Floriana Vitale – Mail: f.vitale@irtop.com
Domenico Gentile – Mail: d.gentile@irtop.com
Tel. 02 45473884
Integrae SIM – Nomad
Mail: info@integraesim.it
Tel. 02 78625300
