Unless otherwise stated, all amounts are in U.S. dollars
VerticalScope Holdings Inc. is pleased to provide an update today on its recent acquisition activity, M&A pipeline and business outlook. Year to date, VerticalScope has completed eleven acquisitions for total cash consideration of approximately $10 million (including approximately $5.6 million thus far in October 2021). Management expects that these acquisitions will add approximately $1.5 million of Adjusted EBITDA in 2022 before revenue or cost synergies.
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“We are very excited about the progress we have made with our acquisition pipeline and the quality of the communities we have acquired and plan to acquire in Q4. We expect to meet or exceed our goals for capital deployment by year end,”
The acquisitions completed thus far in 2021 are intended to address two primary areas of focus for the Company – overall expansion of its user base and the addition of new solutions to engage with its existing and potential future users. To highlight one such acquisition, VerticalScope acquired ProBoards.com and its related assets in October 2021. ProBoards, founded by California-based technology entrepreneur Patrick Clinger, is a platform that allows users to create and operate their own online communities for free. The platform now supports hundreds of individual communities covering a wide range of subjects and represents an exciting new growth driver for VerticalScope. Clinger and the ProBoards team have joined VerticalScope and will continue to develop the platform in collaboration with our team. “The ProBoards platform brings an exciting new capability and growth driver to VerticalScope. By allowing our users and the broader creator community to launch new forums, we expect to add a new dimension to our organic growth playbook. We are very excited to have Patrick and his team of community experts join VerticalScope,” said Rob Laidlaw, Founder and CEO.
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In addition to ProBoards, VerticalScope’s other 2021 acquisitions include communities covering interests ranging from outdoor activities, sports, automotive and fashion. “We are very excited about the progress we have made with our acquisition pipeline and the quality of the communities we have acquired and plan to acquire in Q4. We expect to meet or exceed our goals for capital deployment by year end,” said Chris Goodridge, President and COO.
Laidlaw also provided an update on the business, “As we reported in our Q2 earnings, the business continues to perform well, in spite of ongoing challenges with the overall global supply chain and inventory shortages that are affecting both our Advertising and Commerce revenue. We are seeing continued strength in monthly active users (MAU), with Q3 growth of 8.5% versus the same period last year, including 12.1% year over year growth from communities on the Fora platform. Our strong M&A pipeline is continuing to advance, and we expect to announce additional transactions in November that we believe will be highly accretive to EBITDA. In addition, we are evaluating a few opportunities that could take us to a higher than anticipated level of capital deployment if they come to fruition.”