Singapore’s Amobee is acquiring Kontera and Adconion for $359 million

Another day, and another two big acquisitions in the digital advertising industry. Amobee, a mobile ad company acquired by Singapore’s main carrier SingTel two years ago for $321 million, is buying up not one but two other companies to build out its position in the wider digital ads space: It’s gobbling up Adconion and Kontera, for $235 million and $150 million, respectively. Amobee notes that the consideration payable for Adconion Direct North America and Adconion Australia (the two divisions of Adconion) is approximately $209 million, excluding debt. Both Adconion and Kontera will become a part of SingTel. Adconion, which has been around since 2005, had raised some $114 million from investors like Index Ventures and Wellington. Among the company’s twists and turns over the years, in 2009 it picked up the failed video network Joost — originally founded by the creators of Skype with lots of high hopes – and in 2012 folded it into smartclip, Adconion’s existing online video ads business. The company says it has some 2,000 clients on its platform.