Vendors providing identity resolution tools run the gamut from giant publicly-held companies to smaller pure-play venture-funded providers.
The enterprise identity resolution platform market is crowded with pure-play platforms, large data firms and credit reporting companies. Identity resolution is a capability that many martech ecosystem platforms provide incidentally, but not as a standalone product or service.
The segment experienced an influx of venture capital and a wave of consolidation between 2017 and 2018, when four vendors garnered more than $40 million in six funding rounds. There were 12 acquisitions during that same time period. Comparatively, 2019 and 2020 (through Q1) saw fewer financial transactions, as vendors integrated newly acquired resources to broaden their identity capabilities.
LiveRamp was one of the few identity resolution companies that was aggressive on the M&A front in 2019, purchasing consent management platform Faktor for an undisclosed sum in April and Data Plus Math, a TV advertising measurement firm, for $150 million in June.
More about Identity Resolution
Dentsu Aegis Network sought to bolster Merkle’s identity resolution capabilities by acquiring people-based identity technology developer 4Cite Marketing in January 2020. The largest players in the identity resolution space include three publicly held companies: Experian, LiveRamp and Oracle. Acxiom, Neustar, Valassis and Merkle are all owned by either global agencies or private equity firms.
Privately held, pure-play identity resolution vendors such as FullContact, Infutor, Signal, SmarterHQ and Throtle, are significantly smaller, staff-wise, using venture capital investments to boost their platform marketing, research and development, and staffing.
About The Author
Pamela Parker is Senior Editor and Projects Manager at Third Door Media’s Content Studio, where she produces Martech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and Digital Marketing Depot. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She’s a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a masters degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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