Jordan Bevan
Verve Group SE, the Stockholm-based advertising technology company owned by Media and Games Invest, has acquired Captify Technologies, a UK-headquartered search intelligence platform, in a transaction valued at €25.6 million.
The agreement includes an initial cash payment of €16.2 million within six weeks of closing and a deferred payment of €9.4 million due 18 months later. Captify was consolidated into Verve’s financial results as of September 16, 2025.
Captify is projected to generate approximately €41 million in normalized pro forma revenue for the full year 2025, with expected EBITDA of around €5 million, including synergies from the integration. Due to timing, Verve anticipates Captify will contribute €12–13 million in revenue and €1–2 million in EBITDA to its 2025 financials.
The purchase price reflects a multiple of roughly seven times Captify’s EBITDA before synergies, or about five times after synergies. Management expects full benefits of integration to materialize beginning in January 2026.
The acquisition strengthens Verve’s demand-side operations, expands its UK presence, and brings in a sales team of more than 30 employees across offices in London, the US, and Australia. Captify’s client roster includes major advertising agencies and about half of the world’s top 100 advertisers.
Captify’s technology will integrate into Verve’s audience intelligence platform, Helix, enhancing its data capabilities with one of the largest onsite search datasets outside major walled gardens. The company processes up to 1 billion daily searches and aggregates about 400 billion data points per day to analyze consumer intent and behavior.
The transaction follows Verve’s recent €24.5 million acquisition of German coupon provider Acardo, expected to close in October, highlighting the company’s ongoing M&A strategy.
Captify’s more than 30 employees will join Verve’s commercial, technology, and product divisions. Mike Welch, Captify’s outgoing CEO, will transition into a strategic advisor role.
Verve expects substantial cost and revenue synergies from combining sales operations and integrating Captify’s data assets. Post-deal, annual synergies are estimated at €1.6 million.
Alongside the acquisition, Verve released findings from its 2025 In-App User Privacy Report, based on a survey of 4,000 mobile users in the US and UK. The report noted that while privacy concerns remain high, consumers are increasingly open to sharing demographic and contextual information, particularly when transparency and control are provided. Three in four respondents indicated they are more willing to watch ads in exchange for free content compared to two years ago.
Verve has emphasized that its official 2025 financial guidance remains unchanged, excluding impacts from M&A transactions. The Captify acquisition is expected to significantly enhance Verve’s demand-side growth strategy while adding a major search intelligence dataset to its portfolio.
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