IronSource explained

ironSource Ltd.
Type:Division
Founder:Tomer Bar-Zeev
Fate:Acquired by Unity
Key People:Tomer Bar-Zeev
(CEO & chairman)
Revenue: (2021)
Net Income: (2021)
Assets: (2021)
Equity: (2021)
Num Employees:1,121 (December 2021)
Parent:Unity
Footnotes:[1]
Location City:Tel Aviv
Location Country:Israel
Locations:12

ironSource Ltd. is an Israeli software company that focuses on developing technologies for app monetization and distribution, with its core products focused on the app economy.[2] [3]

Among others, ironSource was chosen as one of the '20 hottest startups' in 2013 and was listed in the Wall Street Journal "Billion Dollar Startup Club".[4] [5] In September 2015, ironSource was named by the World Economic Forum as a Global Growth Company.[6] ironSource has also been named one of the hottest pre-IPO tech companies by Business Insider, and one of Israel's most innovative companies by Fast Company.[7] [8] [9]

ironSource has over 1000 employees, with more than half dedicated to research and development. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, ironSource also has offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tokyo, and Seoul.

History

Founded in 2010 in Tel Aviv, ironSource provides platforms and tools for application developers including analytics, user monetization, conversion, acquisition and optimization for all devices.[10] [11]

In the first quarter of 2013, ironSource acquired Israeli advertising technology and network company AfterDownload Ltd. for $28 million to expand its integrated distribution, installation and value-building tools for software developers, publishers and advertisers.[12]

In August 2013, Ironsource announced merger talks with advertising company Babylon,[13] [14] but the deal was called off after Babylon lost high-value contracts with Google and Yahoo due to violations.[15] [9]

Also in August 2013, ironSource opened an office in San Francisco.[16] In May 2014, they opened an office in Beijing, China.[17] In April 2015, ironSource opened an office in the United Kingdom.[18]

In Fall 2014, ironSource raised approximately $85 million from a group of international investors and acquired the mobile game studio Upopa.[19] [20] At this time, IronSource was considered a key company in Israel's 'Download Valley'.[21] [22]

In September 2015, ironSource merged Supersonic into its mobile operation for a price estimated to be $200 million. The new organization rebranded itself as ironSource.[23] [24] [25] [26]

In June 2016, ironSource announced the acquisition of Sequoia-backed video technology company StreamRail.[27]

In August 2017, ironSource was reported to be "in advanced talks" to be bought for $1.8 billion by a consortium of investment funds.[28] [29] [9]

In October 2019, CVC Capital Partners acquired a minority stake in ironSource for over $400 million.[30]

In February 2020, ironSource announced the launch of its new mobile game studio, Supersonic Studios. Within a couple of months, Supersonic Studios "scored three games in the top 10 mobile charts", with their games amassing more than 35 million downloads.[31] [32] [33]

In January 2021, ironSource acquired mobile advertisement quality measurement company Soomla.[34]

In February 2021, ironSource acquired Luna Labs, the creative management platform and creator of mobile advertisement creation tools like Luna Playable and Luna Replay.[35]

On June 29, 2021, ironSource went public via a merger with an SPAC backed by private equity firm Thoma Bravo Advantage.[36]

In July 2022, Unity Technologies agreed to buy ironSource in an all-stock deal worth US$4.4 billion.[37] On completion of the deal, Unity shareholders will own about 73.5% of the combined company, and current IronSource shareholders will keep about 26.5%.[38] The deal was met with criticism from game developers due to ironSource's affiliation with malware.[39] Unity completed the buyout in November 2022.[40]

InstallCore

See main article: InstallCore.

In February 2011, the company released its first product, InstallCore, as an open-source SDK[41] [42] [43] for a cross-platform installer creation tool and advertisement-delivery platform. InstallCore was observed to use stealth techniques to avoid observation by anti-virus and other security software, and to bypass validation checks by signing programs with illegitimate security certificates.[44] This was classified as a Potentially Unwanted Application by Sophos in 2014[45] and by Microsoft Essential in 2015,[46] with Malwarebytes identifying the program as "a family of bundlers that installs more than one application on the user's computer".[47] The product was discontinued in 2020 and is no longer supported by the company.[48]

Applications

In September 2014, ironSource acquired gaming company Upopa.[49] [50]

ironSource is one of the first mobile SDK providers to support augmented reality advertisements for game developers.[51] [52]

On October 3, 2018, ironSource released an advertisement revenue measurement tool that allows developers to measure the effectiveness of advertisement campaigns aligned with other similar tools used amongst developers as means of evaluating return on advertisement spend (ROAS).[53] [54]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ironSource Ltd. 2021 Annual Report (Form 20-F) . 30 March 2022 . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. Web site: Newzoo Gametech Ecosystem Map. 2020-06-15. Newzoo.
  3. Web site: PCMag App Economy. PCMag.
  4. News: The Billion-Dollar Startup Club. Wall Street Journal. Garcia Phillips. Andrew.
  5. Web site: The 20 Hottest Startups In Israel - Business Insider. . 2013-07-22.
  6. Web site: World Economic Forum Honours 132 Companies as Global Growth Companies. World Economic Forum. 2016-08-21.
  7. News: RANKED: The 37 hottest pre-IPO ad tech startups of 2016. Business Insider. 2017-03-14. en.
  8. News: The Most Innovative Companies of 2016 by Sector. Fast Company. 2017-03-14. en-US.
  9. http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-were-one-of-the-sexiest-companies-in-israel-1000982757 ironSource: We're one of the sexiest companies in Israel
  10. Web site: Access Industries Completes $25 Million Investment in ironSource. Initial Round Expanded to Officially Close at over $100 Million.. www.ironsrc.com. en-EU. 2018-10-09.
  11. Web site: 'How to build a bottom-up culture through a massive employee growth (feat. Tomar Bar Ze'ev, CEO at ironSource)'. 25 Jan 2015. Startup Camel.
  12. Web site: ironSource acquires AfterDownload for $28m - Globes. 20 February 2013 . 20 February 2013.
  13. http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.541268 Babylon in merger talks with IronSource ahead of possible Nasdaq listing
  14. http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.544112 Babylon merger would leave IronSource’s four founders with NIS 2b
  15. http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.556004 Big trouble for Babylon as its rivers of money dry up
  16. Web site: ironSource Opens Office in San Francisco to Better Serve US Market. PRWeb.
  17. News: Gat. Aviva. Israeli company ironSource follows Bibi's lead and looks to collaborate with China. Geektime. June 3, 2014.
  18. News: Maytom. Tim. Digital Distribution Firm ironSource Opens UK Offices. May 28, 2015. Mobile Marketing Magazine. April 30, 2015.
  19. News: Ad delivery and software distribution startup IronSource nabs $85M. 23 September 2014. Venture Beat. Webber. Harrison.
  20. Web site: Israel's ironSource buys mobile game studio Upopa. 4 September 2014. Reuters.
  21. http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/08/11/israeli-ironsource-raises-85-100-million-from-ten-investors/ "Israeli IronSource Raises $85-100 Million From Ten Investors"
  22. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/04/hate-pop-up-ads-microsoft-tries-drawing-line-in-the-sand/ "Hate Pop-Up Ads? Microsoft tries drawing line in the sand"
  23. News: Supersonic merges into ironSource to provide unified app advertising solution. 2016-06-30. mobyaffiliates. 2017-03-14. en-US.
  24. Web site: ironSource merges with supersonic in mobile ad consolidation play. 10 September 2015 .
  25. Web site: Following Merger, Supersonic and ironSource Share Name - Mobile Advertising News & Information MobileAdvertisingWatch.com. 2016-06-30. en-US. 2016-08-21.
  26. Web site: After IronSource merger, Supersonic unveils combined ad monetization for mobile apps. VentureBeat. 15 March 2016 . 2016-08-21.
  27. News: Orpaz . Inbal . June 29, 2016 . IronSource Buys Israeli Startup StreamRail . Haaretz . November 20, 2020.
  28. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.734992 Biggest Internet Firm in Sale Talks
  29. http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.556004 Big trouble for Babylon as its rivers of money dry up
  30. Web site: CVC to Pay $450 Million for a 25% Stake in IronSource. Hazani. Golan. 2019-10-02. CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. 2020-01-13.
  31. Web site: IronSource launches ad-based game studio Supersonic Games. 2020-02-10. VentureBeat. en-US. 2020-02-17.
  32. Web site: Supersonic Games scores three hypercasual mobile games in the top 10. 2020-04-10. VentureBeat. en-US. 2020-04-16.
  33. Web site: PGC Digital: Supersonic Studios' three newest releases have surpassed 35 million downloads. Forde. Matthew. Writer. Staff. pocketgamer.biz. 2020-04-16.
  34. News: Takahashi . Dean . January 11, 2021 . IronSource acquires ad measurement firm Soomla . VentureBeat .
  35. News: Ha . Anthony . February 23, 2021 . IronSource acquires video and playable ad platform Luna Labs . TechCrunch .
  36. News: Israel's ironSource trades in New York after $11 billion SPAC merger. Reuters. 29 June 2021. 30 June 2021. Hu. Krystal.
  37. News: Unity Agrees to Buy ironSource in $4.4 Billion Videogame Deal . 13 July 2022 . . Needleman . Sarah . limited . https://archive.today/20220713210926/https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/unity-agrees-to-buy-ironsource-in-4-4-billion-videogame-deal-11657732385 . 13 July 2022.
  38. News: Unity shares down 13% on lowered 2022 guidance, merger agreement with IronSource . 13 July 2022 . . Yang . Lily.
  39. News: Troughton. James. Unity Criticised For Merging With Known Malware Distributor. 15 July 2022. TheGamer. 14 July 2022.
  40. Web site: Sawers . Paul . 7 November 2022 . Unity and IronSource's $4.4B merger is now complete . TechCrunch.
  41. Web site: Historical installer SDK Source and documantation. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110618042552/http://sdk.installcore.com/content/intro.html. 18 June 2011. Wayback Machine. 16 June 2011.
  42. Web site: ironSource's installCore launches Mac OS installer to offer comprehensive, cross-platform solution for developers. Software Developer Times. 25 November 2014 . 25 November 2014.
  43. https://web.archive.org/web/20110820135846/http://www.installcore.com/sdk/ InstallCore SDK documentation
  44. Web site: Mac Adware Trojan Can Install Anything on OS X. 20 May 2015 .
  45. http://www.sophos.com/en-us/threat-center/threat-analyses/adware-and-puas/Install%20Core/detailed-analysis.aspx Detailed Analysis
  46. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=PUA:Win32/InstallCore PUA:Win32/InstallCore
  47. News: Adware.InstallCore. 15 July 2022. Malwarebytes Labs.
  48. News: Giving up its cash cow paved ironSource's way to NYSE . 29 June 2021 . . Gilead . Assaf.
  49. News: Israel's ironSource buys mobile game studio Upopa. 2017-09-04. Reuters. 2017-04-23.
  50. Web site: ironSource acquires gaming co Upopa - Globes English. Globes. 4 September 2014 . he. 2017-04-23.
  51. News: IronSource launches 'world's first' AR ads for mobile games. Stewart. Rogers. Venturebeat. 2017-09-28. en-us.
  52. News: ironSource Launches AR Ads for Mobile AAA Games. PRWeb. 2017-11-17.
  53. Web site: What is ROAS? Calculating Return On Ad Spend. 9 February 2017 . HuffPost. en-us.
  54. News: How to measure ad channel effectiveness. en-us.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "IronSource".

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