Taboola Acquiring eCommerce Platform Connexity For $800M

Taboola has agreed to acquire Connexity, one of the world’s biggest independent platforms for eCommerce, from Symphony Technology Group for about $800 million, according to an announcement on Friday (July 23).

Connexity works with more than 1,600 merchants and 6,000 publishers, including Walmart, Wayfair, Skechers, Macy’s, eBay and Otto. The company uses relationships with Condé Nast, DotDash, Hearst, Vox Media, Meredith and News Corp Australia to reach 100 million shoppers every month. The platform also allows eCommerce publishers to integrate more than 750 million offers on their sites.

The Connexity deal, which is Taboola’s fifth acquisition, adds more than 200 people to the employee count, bringing the number to about 1,600. Connexity CEO Bill Glass and the management team will lead a new business unit at Taboola.

Taboola is no stranger to the eCommerce world. CEO and Founder Adam Singolda told PYMNTS in 2018 that Android News would unlock new commerce models.

Taboola’s acquisition of Connexity fits with the company’s “Recommend Anything” approach, which pushes for Taboola to enter new areas and leverage its global recommendations platform for its 9,000 digital partners, 13,000 advertisers and 500 million daily users.

“We’re so excited to welcome the Connexity team to our Taboola family,” Singolda said in the announcement. “Today is a big day. The rise of social commerce proves the value of commerce alongside content, and with Connexity, Taboola is primed to bring this value to the open web.

“eCommerce is the future of the open web. Consumers will be buying outside of Amazon, on publishers’ sites next to trusted editorial content, a lot more than they are today. Amazon has millions of merchants, but merchants mainly have Amazon. That changes today. Combining Taboola and Connexity’s technologies is one step forward in creating an alternative to walled gardens,” he said.

“Today, our vision of helping brands easily connect with customers and helping publishers grow gets supercharged with Taboola,” said Glass in the announcement. “This is a shared vision for both companies, which makes this deal a natural fit and a huge win for both of our customer sets.”