Komli Media acquires mobile ad platform ZestADZ

ZestADZ, based in Chennai, was founded in 2007 and is led by Asif Ali, a technology entrepreneur.  ZestADZ currently delivers 5 billion mobile ad impressions globally each month.The company also has an office in the US.

The mobile division of Komli Media, which includes ZestADZ, is run by Amit Bhartiya, VP, together with Ali who will head the Mobile products division.

Prashant Mehta, CEO, Komli Media said Komli Media had acquired ZestADZ for its team and mobile advertising and analytics platforms across feature phones and smartphone platforms such as iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile.

“We’re thrilled to have the ZestADZ team as part of the Komli family and see a strong cultural fit between our two companies," he said. "Under Asif’s leadership, they have built a strong technology platform that complement’s Komli’s own real-time ad serving technology to make this a mutually rewarding partnership.”

The trade represents Komli's fourth acquisition over the last 12 months. It comes off the back of Komli taking on Indoor Media in the UK, PostClick in Australia , and Asia-Pacific's own leading sales house Aktiv Digital.

Aktiv Digital will lead the combined group's sales efforts. Matt Sutton, Aktiv CEO (pictured) said, "From a market perspective, it (the ZestADZ acquisition) finally gives agencies and advertisers a competitive pan-regional alternative to Inmobi and Admob.  From Aktiv's perspective, it's another critical part of our holistic offering for our agency and publisher partners spanning display, video, social and now mobile"

According to eMarketer estimates, Asia Pacific mobile internet users will nearly double from 623 million in 2011 to more than 1.22 billion in 2015.  At the end of 2015, it is estimated that one out of every two mobile users worldwide will reside in Asia Pacific.  Within India, the mobile internet penetration is today estimated at 40 million users and is expected to grow to over 200 million users by 2016.