Velti is a
mobile marketing
Mobile marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, e-mail, SMS and MMS, social media, or mobile app ...
company offering its solutions to major mobile operators and brands. The company was founded in 2001, went public in London in 2006 and NASDAQ in 2011. In 2013
Blackstone, one of the largest private equity groups with more than $300 billion under management acquired the assets of Velti and the company was taken private.
History
Velti was founded in 2001 by Alex Moukas and Chris Kaskavelis as a software and
ASP provider serving the
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
industry. The same year,
Nicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte (born December 1, 1943) is a Greek American architect. He is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Negroponte ...
, then the laboratory chairman of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, joined the company as a non-executive director. In 2002, Velti gained
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
as a customer. By the end of that year, the company had reached 35 employees.
After a 2006
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
's
AIM Market, Velti further expanded its U.S. operations with the opening of an office in New York. A San Francisco office was created the following year. Velti was one of the 10-best performing IPOs in London Stock Exchange's AIM in 2007
Beginning in 2007, Velti entered into a series of joint ventures and partnerships with the
Interpublic Group
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is an American publicly traded advertising company. The company consists of five major networks: FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Group, and Marketing Specialists, as well as a n ...
to create Ansible, a mobile marketing joint venture.
In 2008, Velti opened a new office in Beijing and made an investment in CASEE. In India, Velti partnered with HT Media Limited, India's second-largest media group, on a mobile marketing joint venture called HT Mobile Solutions. 2008 also saw the opening of a new Velti office in Moscow.
In 2009, Velti announced the acquisition of Ad Infuse, a provider of personalized mobile advertising in the U.S. increasing the company's headcount to more than 400, including more than 200 technology staff.
In 2010, the company announced the acquisition of Mobclix,. A second 2010 acquisition added Media Cannon, a developer of mobile advertising tools and technology. By the end of 2010, Velti had grown to more than 500 employees in 30 countries.
In January, 2011, Velti completed an initial public offering of 12 million common stock shares on
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
under the trading symbol VELT. The IPO raised approximately $150 million, according to
ROAMdata (Boston-based subsidiary of
Ingenico
Ingenico is a merchant services technology company based in France, that facilitates secure electronic transactions. The company expanded as a manufacturer of point of sale (POS) payment terminals to also include complete merchant payment Saa ...
). In September 2011, Velti acquired Air2Web Inc a mobile customer relationship management technology company based in Atlanta for $19 million.
Velti demonstrated a dramatic revenue growth following its London and NASDAQ listings. Its revenues grew from $90m in 2009 to $116m in 2010 to $189m in 2011 to $270m in 2012.
Sale to Blackstone and Delisting from Nasdaq
In late summer 2013, Velti was forced to write down nearly $111 million of AR, reducing its headcount by almost 20% and placing Mobclix on the chopping block to raise spare cash. These actions led to a severe stock drop.
On November 4, 2013, Velti sold its assets to GSO, the credit division of Blackstone. The US subsidiary asset sale was done under chapter 11, while the all subsidiary (including the US) and the parent company continued normal operations.
On December 16, 2013, Velti voluntarily de-listed from the Nasdaq market in order to complete the sale of assets to Blackstone: "The voluntary decision to delist from NASDAQ was taken following the Company's review of several factors, including its previously disclosed noncompliance with the minimum bid price requirements of NASDAQ.." Velti shares are now traded on the OTC market.
Velti currently operates in 10 countries, is profitable and its main customers include Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, Movistar, Airtel, Pepsico, MBC and Nestle. Velti does not provide financial statements since 2013.
References
{{reflist
Mass media companies of the United States