GTCR's Dreamscape Buys Stake in Ad Intell Firm SMI

Private equity firm GTCR has made a 'strategic investment' in ad intelligence company Standard Media Index (SMI) through its portfolio company Dreamscape, which GTCR formed with marketing tech execs Scott Knoll, David Hahn and Michael Iantosca. Knoll has been named SMI CEO.

New York-based SMI, which also has offices in London, Madrid, Sydney and Toronto, collects ad pricing and spend data from actual invoices from media buying groups and independents. This is used to provide ad intelligence across all media types, including television, OTT, digital, out of home, print and radio. Data can be segmented by ad types, publishers, product categories and many other dimensions.

Kroll (pictured) takes over from SMI's Chief Executive Officer James Fennessy, who will step down from his current position and become a member of Dreamscape's Board of Directors and a consultant to the business. Kroll previously spent more than nine years at Integral Ad Science, latterly as CEO; Hahn was previously the company's SVP of Product Management; and Iantosca was Chief Revenue Officer. The trio helped set up Dreamscape in 2020 to acquire companies and assets as part of a strategy to build a marketing technology business, and last month Dreamscape announced an investment in ad research, analytics, and media planning software company SQAD.

Craig Bondy, MD and co-Head of TMT at GTCR, comments: 'We see tremendous upside potential in SMI and its advertising software solutions. The company is well-positioned in the marketing and advertising industry with deep relationships with its partners and customers which have served it well. We believe that our investment, alongside the Dreamscape team, will provide the resources to expand SMI's current product portfolio to address new markets and create fully integrated solutions for its customers'.

Web sites: www.gtcr.com , www.pcdreamscape.com and www.standardmediaindex.com .