MNTN, the connected-TV advertising company that owns Ryan Reynolds‘ Maximum Effort creative agency, announced a $119 million in Series D financing.
The round, which closed in the fourth quarter of 2021, was co-led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Fidelity, which collectively invested approximately $110 million.
MNTN (pronounced “mountain”) was founded in 2009 as SteelHouse before rebranding last year. Previously, the company had raised about $65 million in funding from investors including Baroda Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Mercato Partners, Qualcomm and Rincon Venture Partners.
The funding comes after MNTN announced the acquisition Maximum Effort in June 2021. In January, the company bought Quickframe, an original video creation platform with thousands of creators, who produce video spots for over 1,000 clients across 20 categories. MNTN’s customers span 150 streaming networks, including CNN, Discovery Plus, ESPN, Hulu and Food Network.
“MNTN’s mission is to bring unrivaled simplicity and performance to TV advertising. We are so proud to add BlackRock and Fidelity as partners in this pursuit,” MNTN CEO Mark Douglas said in a statement. “You could not ask for a bigger vote of confidence than to have two of the world’s largest investors back you in such a big way.”
Reynolds, who holds the title of chief creative officer at MNTN, said about the new investors, “I’m the least interesting thing about MNTN. It’s changing TV advertising. I was lucky to stow away in the cargo hold on its trip around the sun and back. MNTN is a beast. I’m mixing metaphors. Whatever. The point is I’m super grateful for our new partners.”
