Verve Group Acquires Captify and acardo to Drive Global Growth

Verve Group SE, a rapidly growing software platform in the advertising technology industry, has announced two major strategic acquisitions: Captify Technologies Ltd, a leading search intelligence platform, and acardo Group AG, a leading German consumer activation solution provider. These acquisitions reinforce Verve’s demand-side business, enhance its data and retail activation capabilities, and expand its market reach across Europe.

Strengthening Demand-Side Capabilities with Captify

Verve has acquired Captify Technologies Ltd, a global leader in search intelligence, analyzing nearly 1 billion daily searches and aggregating over 400 billion data points each day. Captify’s data assets represent one of the largest onsite search datasets outside walled gardens, enabling powerful, privacy-first insights into real-time consumer intent without relying on third-party cookies.

• Strategic Rationale: This acquisition strengthens Verve’s demand-side business and brings deep relationships with top-tier global advertisers, enhancing Verve’s ability to deliver highly relevant and effective campaigns.
• Financials: Captify is expected to contribute approximately EUR 41 million in annual revenues on a normalized 2025 pro forma basis, with an expected EBITDA of around EUR 5 million, including synergies.
• Deal Structure: The total purchase price is approximately EUR 25.6 million, consisting of EUR 16.2 million in upfront cash and a deferred payment of EUR 9.4 million 18 months post-closing. The transaction represents a multiple of about 7x EBITDA before synergies and 5x after synergies.
• Integration: Captify’s team of over 30 sales professionals across the U.S., U.K., and Australia will be integrated into Verve’s Brand & Agency, Technology, and Product teams, driving operational synergies and an expected EUR 1.6 million annual cost saving.
• Contribution Timeline: Captify will be consolidated from 16 September 2025, contributing EUR 12–13 million in revenues and EUR 1–2 million in EBITDA in 2025.

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Expanding European Market Reach with acardo Group AG

In parallel, Verve has signed an agreement to acquire acardo Group AG, a leading German digital consumer activation company that provides couponing, cashback, and retail marketing solutions integrated into 5,600+ retail stores and scaled retailer apps, reaching ~85% of German households.

• Strategic Rationale: This acquisition gives Verve access to a powerful retail network and shopper marketing capabilities, allowing brands to drive measurable, direct consumer response across mobile, CTV, and DOOH channels, while bridging the gap between offline and online retail.
• Financials: acardo is expected to contribute about EUR 15 million in normalized 2025 revenues and approximately EUR 6 million EBITDA including synergies.
• Deal Structure: The purchase price is approximately EUR 24.5 million, including EUR 17.2 million in upfront cash and EUR 7.3 million deferred after 12 months. This represents a multiple of about 6x EBITDA before synergies and 4x after synergies.
• Integration: acardo brings over 120 employees, including 14 senior sales experts in the German region, who will join Verve to embed retail couponing and cashback capabilities across its platform.
• Contribution Timeline: The transaction is expected to close on 1 October 2025, contributing EUR 3.5–4.5 million in revenues and EUR 0.9–1.2 million EBITDA in 2025.

Strategic Synergy and Growth Outlook

With Captify and acardo, Verve secures two highly complementary assets:

• Captify’s search intelligence enhances Verve’s demand-side technology and access to massive real-time intent data.
• acardo’s retail activation capabilities extend Verve’s reach to in-store and at-home shoppers across Germany and Europe. Together, these acquisitions accelerate Verve’s growth, strengthen its sales network, and enhance its ability to serve advertisers across CPG, retail, health, and entertainment sectors with a unified, privacy-first, data-driven advertising solution.

“With these two transactions, Verve is not only accelerating its Demand Side expansion but also securing key data assets, capabilities, and regional strength that align perfectly with our strategic roadmap,” said Remco Westermann, CEO of Verve Group SE. “Captify and acardo both bring complementary strengths: Captify’s search intelligence enhances our understanding of consumer intent; acardo’s consumer activation in retail unlocks measurable conversions. Together, they position Verve to deliver even greater value for advertisers, brands, agencies and publishers in the evolving ad tech ecosystem.”