What’s Next in Marketing Tech Investing?

China was a moment in time, but that moment has unequivocally passed. In China, there’s been a concern about Chinese dollars flowing elsewhere outside of the country. There’s rumblings of their governmental body saying: "If you’re going to make an acquisition here in China of a domestic asset, we’re all for it. But if you’re going to start floating dollars to the US, we’re going to make that a little more difficult."

They still are acquirers of assets in digital marketing. But if you’re [selling your company], you’d better find the sliver of gap within their existing tech stacks. Because they’ve made so many acquisitions, what else do they need?

It’s unlikely that most companies will ever go public. When initial investors want a return, they look to sell the company. But if there’s nothing game-changing about them to be bought by that elite, desired buying universe, they just kind of tread water, right?

It’s an existential moment by the ad agencies and the ad buying platforms. There are so many ad tech players, and you hear this term "ad tech tax" on the part of the advertiser having to pay. Then the question becomes what can we do as an ad tech platform to sustain our future? In many instances, having a direct relationship to the publisher is the way to do that.