AppLovin to acquire Berlin-based mobile measurement startup Adjust, reportedly for $1 billion

California-based AppLovin, the mobile ad platform and games publisher, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Berlin-based Adjust, a mobile app measurement and marketing company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, Bloomberg reported that the deal was valued at around $1B (approx €830.7M).

Christian Henschel, Adjust co-founder and CEO comments, “Our focus has always been to help our customers succeed by offering the best solutions in the market. The traction we are seeing around the world is a testament to our team and our technology. Joining forces with AppLovin will further power our clients’ growth and shape the future of the app economy.”

About Adjust

The company was founded in 2012 by Christian Henschel, Manuel Kniep, and Paul Müller.

Adjust is an app marketing analytics platform that ensures privacy and performance standards. Its solutions include attribution and measurement, fraud prevention, cybersecurity, as well as automation tools.

The company’s mission is to make mobile marketing simpler, smarter, and more secure for the more than 50,000 apps working with Adjust. It has secured one of 2019’s largest funding rounds in Europe, raising nearly $227M.

Adjust has made steady growth over the last couple of years. The company made a series of hires in 2020, including a new global director of agency partnerships and head of enterprise sales, US. Recently, the company also appointed a new CPO (Katie Madding) and CRO (Bill Kiriakis) back in November. 

Some of its clients include SoundCloud, Rakuten, TikTok, and Tencent. The company has 16 offices and over 500 employees around the world.

Aim of this acquisition?

With this acquisition, AppLovin wants to grow the mobile app ecosystem. In the last three years, the company has expanded its suite of solutions with its acquisitions of MAX and SafeDK to help developers increase revenue, save time, and protect their users’ experience. 

AppLovin, which claims to be one of the largest app marketers in the world, looks to offer its knowledge and expertise to Adjust and help further innovate the attribution and analytics product suite it has built.

Speaking on the development, Paul Müller, Adjust co-founder, and CTO says, “Our ambition always was to be the world’s first comprehensive, all-in-one solution for app marketers. By coming together with AppLovin, we can realise our vision and create a brand new product suite that will accelerate every app marketer’s growth.”

AppLovin and Adjust to launch Adjust Growth Scholarship

With an aim to create more opportunities for new and emerging developers, the companies have decided to launch the “Adjust Growth Scholarship”. The goal of this program is to provide attribution and analytics tools, marketing, monetisation, and product consultation, and funding to new mobile businesses.

Both the companies believe the mobile app ecosystem will continue to thrive if more developers are given more resources to get their businesses off the ground and sustain their growth.

What does AppLovin offer?

Founded in 2012 by Adam Foroughi, Andrew Karam, and John Krystynak, AppLovin is a technology platform that claims to enable developers to market, monetise, analyse and publish their apps. Its studios create popular, immersive content and its technology bring that content to users around the world.

Speaking on the acquisition, Adam Foroughi, AppLovin co-founder and CEO says, “Together, we believe we will propel marketing tools innovation forward for mobile app developers globally.”