LiveRamp swallows 2 First Round-backed ventures for $140mm plus incentives

Tom Paine

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Ari Jacoby

Ari Jacoby's next act, Philadelphia-based Circulate, was acquired by Arkansas-based consumer database giant Acxiom's LiveRamp unit along with New York-based Arbor, for what LiveRamp said was a total cash consideration of $140 million, it was announced today. There are also equity-based incentives.

LiveRamp's IdentityLink is seeking to build the holy grail of consumer data. IdentityLink aims to produce a 360 degree view of a consumer from information including social and programmatic ad data, CRM data, transactional data and addressable TV data. Others are trying to do the same, such as Dentsu Aegis, which acquired Maryland-based Merkle in August.

The two acquisitions are meant to broaden IdentityLink's data acquisition reach by adding the numerous data publisher relationships Circulate and Arbor possess. LiveRamp's CEO said they would double its publisher network to over 450.

Not coincidentally, both Circulate and Arbor are First Round Capital portfolio companies and run by entrepreneurs previously backed by First Round. Jacoby has started two other successful ventures with First Round's help: VoiceStar (sold to Marchex), and SolveMedia (acquired by Adiant last year).

Arbor was founded by two early employees of Invite Media (acquired by Google): David Yaffe, co-founder and CEO of Arbor, and Nikhil Dixit, co-Founder, Revenue & Operations.

Circulate is headquartered on JFK Boulevard in Center City. Circulate and Arbor both employ about 20, according to Ad Age.

Circulate had raised $17.4 million in funding, from backers including First Round, AOL Ventures, Bullpen Capital, and Chris Dixon.