Case Study

MiQ

Distribution

The company

  • Region: Europe
  • Sector: Information Technology
  • Stage: Small/mid buyout
  • Type: Primary
  • Fund Vintage: 2017
  • Exit Type: Secondary buyout
  • Highlights:
£2.7m
Proceeds
6.1x
MOIC
49%
IRR

Private Equity Manager (GP)

Case study

About the company

MiQ is a data analytics company serving the programmatic advertising market. Through its proprietary platform, MiQ processes and connects large sets of diverse data and converts the data into customer insights. The business then uses those insights to build specific audiences, providing its clients with a strong return on investment for their digital advertising spend.

Investment rationale

  • Consistent exceptional growth with digital display advertising growing at 20% p.a. over two years.
  • MiQ has a proven track record of expanding into new territories, launching eight new offices in six years, all of which became profitable quickly.
  • Strong barriers to entry through the proprietary platform developed by the business, as well as long-term relationships with all of the large tier-one agencies who control c.70% of media spend globally.
  • Significant geographic diversity with revenues spread across the UK, North America, Europe and Australia and with scope for further expansion into other international geographies.
  • MiQ generates a superior return on investment, compared to its competitors, as a result of its high performance-focused culture.

Our relationship

PIP is a primary investor in two ECI Partners funds and Pantheon has held an advisory board seat in the last six of its funds.

Active management and value creation

  • Organic growth of 27% and 31% CAGR in terms of revenue and EBITDA over the five-year holding period.
  • Developed and executed a North American and Asian expansion strategy, leading to four new US offices and an increase in North American revenue to over 80% of total group revenue upon exit.
  • Client direct customers that now account for 15% of revenue versus none at entry.
  • Hired a new management layer beneath the founders enabling the business to scale up in key markets.

Exit

MiQ was acquired by Bridgepoint Advisers in September 2022, providing a full exit for ECI and for PIP at a 5.9x Multiple of Invested Cost (MOIC) and 49% IRR. The uplift versus the valuation 12 months prior was 296%.

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