M&A: Video Engagement, Marketing Platform Provider Banzai Set for Merger
Video marketing platform provider Banzai International, which is backed by multiple Channel Angels investors, will become a public company and acquire ad tracking firm Hyros, the deal participants announced.
Joe Davy, CEO, Banzai International
The strategy involves Banzai merging with a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) called 7GC & Co. Holdings Inc. The resulting company will have an estimated post-transaction enterprise value of $380 million with approximately $207 million in net cash, the companies said. The resulting company, Banzai International, is expected to trade on the Nasdaq.
Banzai develops an end-to-end video engagement solution to support webinars, virtual events, and other digital marketing campaigns. The company is set to acquire Hyros for $110 million. The deal will help Banzai’s enterprise and SMB customers to “get accurate sales and marketing data that they can leverage into making better ROI decisions.” The combined businesses had pro forma annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $22.1 million as of Q3 2022, Banzai said.
In a prepared statement about the moves, Banzai CEO Joe Davy said:
“Nobody owns the marketing category for video engagement, making Banzai a trailblazer for the industry. Banzai satisfies engagement marketing needs with its fully integrated platform delivering analytics, audience and engagement features to marketers. With the capital from our business combination with VII, we expect to continue hyper-scaling to become the leading video engagement platform for marketers.”
Added Jack Leeney, chairman and CEO of VII:
“Joe and the team have built the category defining platform for marketers in the hybrid work environment we all now live in. There has been incredible value creation for marketing tech businesses which have become essential platforms in email or social channels. 7GC is thrilled to partner with Banzai as the business continues to scale and own the marketing customer for video.”
Current Banzai management, employees and existing shareholders will roll 100% of their existing equity holdings into equity of the combined company. The deals are expected to close in the first half of 2023.
Kurt Bilafer, angel investor
How Channel Angels Engaged with Banzai International
Channel Angels Principal Investors Joe Panettieri and Gerwai Todd invested in Banzai in Q1 of 2020. Channel Angels was introduced to the early stage funding opportunity by angel investor Kurt Bilafer.