Silicon Valley company Quantcast has snapped up a ‘world leading’ advertising technology start-up based in Soho, in a win for London’s technology scene.
San Francisco-headquartered online advertising and data specialist Quantcast has acquired Struq, a London-based company that targets high-spending customers with personalised adverts as they browse the web.
The business, featured in the Standard’s Growth Capital column in 2011, was set up by 31-year-old Sam Barnett in 2008. The price paid for the company has not been disclosed but is likely to be in the multi-millions with Barnett in line for a significant windfall.
Barnett said the deal would allow Struq to accelerate its growth, adding: “We share the same values as people and as businesses.”
Quantcast’s founder Konrad Feldman praised Struq as “phenomenal”, adding: “We’re very selective. Struq is the second company we’ve acquired and I think that speaks to how highly we regard the company and the technology they’ve built.”
Feldman, who set up Quantcast in San Francisco 2006, is himself originally from London.
Asked if he would base Quantcast in London if he were setting up the company today, he said: “I chose Silicon Valley for Quantcast because it’s the centre of the internet on a global basis.
"But what is certainly the case is that London has come on tremendously since then and you can see that it in Struq. They have many customers across the pond.”
As part of the deal, Struq will merge with Quantcast’s London office and the company plans to open an ‘engineering hub’ in the city to work on products.
Feldman said: “London has two of the world’s top five Universities and both those Universities have phenomenal engineering department. This is a great market for engineering talent.”
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Quantcast has to date raised $65 million in venture capital and Feldman has in the past said publicly that the business plans to go public within two years.
