Abu Dhabi’s IHC acquires minority stake in US rideshare and taxi ad start-up Firefly

Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company's subsidiary, Multiply Marketing Consultancy (MMC), acquired a minority stake in rideshare and taxi ad start-up Firefly for an undisclosed amount.

The pair are also likely to expand San Francisco-based Firefly's procedures to the Middle East “through a joint-venture office based within MMC’s headquarters” in the emirate, IHC said in a statement on Sunday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade.

Founded in 2017, San Francisco-based Firefly has digital advertising boards that sit on top of taxis and ride-sharing vehicles. The business has been backed by investors such as for example Google Ventures, NFX and Stanford University’s StartX Fund.

“Firefly’s investment provides more value to all or any advertisers wanting to personalise their messaging and hyper-target their audiences,” Samia Bouazza, founder and leader of MMC, said.

“Investments in our communications vertical make sure that our media teams are servicing our local clients with the most recent, most progressive and analytically-precise technology in the marketplace,” she added.

Firefly operates across major US cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Austin, Chicago and Miami. It works with taxi companies and rideshare drivers to set up its proprietary advertising displays along with their vehicles, offering yet another revenue stream.

Its screens have emerged by millions of folks every month, the business said.

The Firefly investment will sit within Multiply Group’s communications vertical, which also contains a minority stake in New York-based Yieldmo, among the world's fastest-growing digital advertising and attention analytics companies.

“Our investments are chosen to meet up several standards that are true to your philosophy. They are future-focused, efficient and scalable; plus they empower at least one stakeholder to attain their full potential through technology,” Ms Bouazza said.

IHC, which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi's PAL Band of Companies, reported a 1,233 % upsurge in net profit for the first quarter of 2021 as earnings surged on the trunk of recent acquisitions.

In the past couple of months, it has steadily expanded its portfolio by acquiring businesses in emerging technologies, real estate and health care, among others.

Last month, it completed a 45 per cent stake purchase in Alpha Dhabi Holding, a genuine estate and construction sector-focused company previously referred to as Trojan Holding.

It acquired a stake in California-based aerospace company SpaceX through an exclusive equity fund and has invested in UK-based DNA sequencing company Oxford Nanopore technologies.

IHC also has investments in Quantlase Imaging Lab, the business behind the rapid Covid-19 screening system operated on the border between Abu Dhabi and Dubai at Ghantoot and Tamouh Healthcare.