Proventis Partners exclusively advises ProSiebenSat.1 on its investment in the influencer marketing platform BuzzBird.

Munich, 16 November 2017
DAX30 firm ProSiebenSat.1 acquires a 42% stake in the influencer marketing platform BuzzBird, founded in 2015. The founders Andreas Tirck, Felix Hummel (CEO) and Klaus Beyer (software engineer) will remain on board of the company.

The target

Buzzbird is an influencer marketing platform that connects advertisers and influencers. Thanks to widely automated processes, BuzzBird enables influencers with smaller reach to become attractive for advertisers, too. The model is comparable with longtail display marketing. According to Jens Mittnacht, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Advertising Plattform Solutions, influencer marketing is a fast growing market which particularly benefits from platforms that help advertisers to find suitable influencers and make them easily scalable.

ProSiebenSat.1 plans to link Buzzbird tightly to Studio71. Studio71 is the multi-channel network of ProSiebenSat.1 and was founded in 2013. Studio71 and BuzzBird are both based in Berlin but plans are to keep the companies locally and operationally separated.

Turck anticipates that influencer marketing will considerably grow over the next few years and that it will account for 10-15% of total digital revenues persepctively.

The transaction

Founded in 2015, BuzzBird is constantly growing and is now taking the next big step. With the capital increase successfully executed, the start-up will be able to finance important investments and follow its path in becoming a leading influencer marketing platform. The transaction is still subject to antitrust approval.

Mittnacht sees three starting points to enhance the business of BuzzBird: First, smaller influencers that are currently part of the portfolio of Studio 71 shall be transferred to BuzzBird. Second, ProSiebenSat.1 marketer SevenOne Media plans to work closely with the platform in order to improve its offer, which currently includes online video and digital out of home products. Finally, Mittnacht anticipates synergies with regard to BuzzBird’s technology.

Role of Proventis Partners

Since September 2016, Proventis Partners advises ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE on its M&A transactions, in particular on minority investments. As public listed company, the media group is subject to various regulations, which have direct influence on the transaction process. This placed high requirements on the due diligence process (commercial, financial, legal, tax) and lead to complex legal agreements.

In the course of the transaction, the Proventis Partners team (Rainer Wieser, Partner, Florian Liepert, Director, and Nina May, Analyst) ensured a smooth transaction process; tasks included the preparation of decision material, the coordination of the due diligence process and the support with contract negotiations.

About Proventis Partners

Proventis Partners is a partner-managed mid-market M&A advisory firm, whose main clients include corporations, family companies and private equity funds. Proventis Partners is active in the sectors of media & technology, FMCG, logistics, packaging and cleantech & natural resources and has three offices in Zurich, Munich and Hamburg plus a strong partner network in Europe, Asia and the USA. With now 30 professionals Proventis Partners has successfully completed more than 200 transactions with a total transaction volume of more than EUR 4 billion.