Israeli Content Recommendation Firm Outbrain Files For IPO

Israeli content recommendation company Outbrain filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday for a proposed initial public offering.

Outbrain has applied to list its common stock on the NASDAQ  under the ticker symbol “OB.” The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

According to The New York Times, the company said it had yet to determine a price range, valuation, or offering price and will aim to raise more than $100 million.

Outbrain was founded in 2006 by Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav as an online advertising company specializing in presenting sponsored website links. In other words, Outbrain’s native advertising platform reaches an engaged audience through distribution on top publishing sites.

The company has grown to hold 18 offices worldwide and boasts an impressive 275 billion monthly recommendations in 14 different languages. Customers include CNN, the BBC, Mashable, MSNBC, Slate, Haaretz, and Le Parisien. Outbrain provides publishers with a service for recommended links to increase traffic and generate revenue.

In 2019, Outbrain and rival Israeli content recommendation firm Taboola announced that they were merging in a bid to challenge Google and Facebook’s advertising duopoly. As part of the deal, Taboola was set to pay $250 million for 30 percent of Outbrain’s shares and will hold a 70 percent stake in the merged entity,

Nearly a year later, the deal fell through largely due to market changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic., according to people familiar with the matter.

Taboola is set begin trading on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger.