4W MARKETPLACE CLOSES 2016 WITH A 7 MILLION TURNOVER
Born in 2009 as a startup of the incubator Digital Magics, the leading advertising network in Italy for the management of all online ADV formats recorded an increase of +9% compared to 2015 and +20% in the first quarter of 2017
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Milan, May 30, 2017 – 4w MarketPlace, the leading advertising network in Italy for direct and automatic (programmatic) management online of ADV formats for desktop and mobile (from native ads, to video, to display banners), closes 2016 with a turnover of 7 million EUR, with an increase of 9% compared to 2015.
In the first quarter of 2017 4w MarketPlace – the digital scaleup born within Digital Magics, startup incubator listed on the AIM market of Italian Stock Exchange – confirms the increase in revenues, marking approximately +20% compared to the same period of 2016.
EBITDA in 2016 amounted to 659 thousand EUR (+25% compared to 2015). The net financial position was positive by more than 1.4 million EUR, improved by 0.5 million EUR compared to the previous year. Also the operating year result, which totalled 41 thousand EUR in 2016, registered a clear improvement compared to the loss of 67 thousand EUR in 2015.
4w MarketPlace has expanded its offering for publishers and advertisers, going on to establish itself in the course of 2016 also in online advertising segments with video and display (banners) formats, besides the native ads (image with text and links positioned at the bottom of article), the format on which the company was born and on which it developed its business for years. This expansion has been achieved thanks to the strategic agreement of 4w MarketPlace with the DADA Group, which took over 25% of capital in return for the conferment in kind of the business unit ProAdv/Simply in July 2015.
The goals for 2017 are mainly the strengthening of the development of proprietary technology to offer new ADV formats and the creation of an evolution of the format management platform that will enable a better efficiency of the processes.
The advertising network of 4w MarketPlace aggregates thousands of web and mobile sites of highly qualified Italian publishers, who earn more than 6 billion monthly impressions with an audience coverage equal to 70%. The Digital Magics’ scaleup has Offices in Milan, Florence and Fisciano (SA) and a team of 30 professionals.
Since 2009 4w MarketPlace exclusively managed the native ad format on the websites of the Consorzio Premium Publisher Network (PPN), founded by Gruppo RCS and Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso. In 2011 it was the first Italian network to receive the certification from Facebook as an advertising provider for the sale of advertising within the social network, and in 2012 it received a funding of EUR 2 million from the venture capital fund Principia SGR.
“We are very pleased with the closing of 2016 and the positive results we have achieved with our three product lines – declares Roberto Barberis, CEO of 4w MarketPlace – The company continues to have a healthy and prosperous financial position and this is another surely remarkable fact. The positive results we are getting in the first half of 2017, despite the stable situation in the advertising market in general, show that our commitment and our strategy have proved successful.”
“4w MarketPlace is not only one of the digital excellences of our team” – says Gabriele Ronchini, Founder and Managing Director of Digital Magics for Portfolio Development – “But the concrete example of the important role an incubator plays for the growth of a startup. We founded 4w in 2009 together with Roberto Bassani, current Chief Product & Technology Officer, and starting from the talent and from an innovative business model, we have supported the company until it became a leader of the Italian market. We are working to achieve an exit of our participation in 4w MarketPlace or the IPO”.
This press release is available on the website of the company www.digitalmagics.com in the section Investors/Press Releases.
4w MarketPlace is the leading advertising network in the Italian market by size and reach. It offers to publishers and advertising investors the best direct and programmatic management of a complete range of adv formats for desktop and mobile – from native ads, to videos, to display – by using a proprietary technology integrated with the best available solutions and platforms. It was born as a startup of the certified incubator Digital Magics. Since 2009, thanks to an exclusive agreement with the Consorzio Premium Publisher Network (founded by Gruppo RCS and Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso), it has established itself in the management of native ad formats for the major online newspapers. In 2011 it also enters in the mobile adv market and is the first Italian network to receive the certification from Facebook as an advertising provider for the sale of advertising within the social network. In 2012 4W opened a new office in Fisciano (SA) and strengthened its strategic partnership with the University of Salerno. It also received funding of 2 million EUR from Principia SGR for the expansion of its technological development. In 2013 4w launched its solution for the Programmatic Buying Premium. In 2014 it opened a new sales office in Rome and presented the correlation widget format for the distribution of native ads that convey marketing content. The appointment by the Consorzio PPN for the exclusive management of the contextual spaces on their magazines is confirmed, and 4w was granted the management, again exclusively, of adv spaces on Msites. In 2015 4w launched the Native Widget Video format, which provides high quality video content associated with advertising formats. It established a strategic agreement with the Gruppo DADA, which acquires 25% of the capital in return for the business unit ProAdv/Simply and thanks to this operation it imposed itself even in the video and display areas.
Digital Magics, listed on AIM Italia (symbol: DM), is an incubator of digital projects that provides consulting services and acceleration services to startups and enterprises, to facilitate the development of new technological businesses. Thanks to the partnership with Talent Garden and Tamburi Investment Partners, Digital Magics has created the most important national platform for innovation for DIGITAL MADE IN ITALY, by offering services for the digital transformation and “Open Innovation†to excellent enterprises, while providing support to innovative startups to create successful projects, from conception to IPO. The incubation and acceleration services offered by Digital Magics are active in the TAG co-working campuses present throughout Italy. Complementary services include investment activities, which have produced over the years a portfolio of 70 investments in startups, scaleups and digital spinoffs with high growth rates. Accelerated companies are flanked by Digital Magics LAB, a team of highly experienced business partners, and benefit not only from the large network of private and institutional investors that support them through “club deals”, but also from the many partner companies that support them on an industrial scale.
Integrae SIM acts as a Nomad and Specialist under the AIM Italia Issuers Regulations. For the storage and transfer of regulated information, Digital Magics makes use of the system of dissemination eMarket SDIR and the storage mechanism eMarket STORAGE available at the address www.emarketstorage.com managed by Spafid Connect SpA.
For further information:
4w MarketPlace – Contact Office
Rossana Novarini – Mail: rossana.novarini@4wmarketplace.com
Mob. 392 9270535
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
Tel. 02 45473884
Integrae SIM – Nomad
Mail: info@integraesim.it
Tel. 02 87208720
