Japan's Geniee acquires AdPushup-operator Zelto for $70 million

Japanese marketing tech firm Geniee, part of the SoftBank Group, has paid about $70 million in cash to acquire the revenue optimization platform Zelto (formerly known as AdPushup), a person familiar with the matter said, delivering 40 times return to a number of angel investors in the startup that began its journey in India.

The acquisition is a remarkable turnaround for Zelto, the 10-year-old firm that provides content creators and web publishers with tools to generate more revenue by tapping dozens of advertising exchanges, which faced near-death experiences twice in its journey. In 2014, the startup almost ran out of cash. Later, it scrambled with its product offerings after its marquee service struggled to make inroads, Zelto founder and chief executive Ankit Oberoi told TechCrunch in an interview.

The two firms announced the deal on Thursday, but did not disclose the terms of the deal. The source requested anonymity sharing private information. Oberoi of Zelto, which has been profitable for several years and raised less than $2.5 million in external funding during its startup journey, declined to disclose the terms of the deal. Elle, NDTV, CNET, PCMag, Mashable and GSMArena are among some of the customers of AdPushup, Zelto's marquee offering, according to the company's website.