Clearwater firm raises $14M through stock offering

Clearwater-based tech firm Digital Media Solutions has raised $14 million by entering into a private placement securities purchase agreement.

Digital Media Solutions Inc. (NYSE: DMS)is one of the largest privately held businesses in the area that provides digital performance advertising solutions connecting consumers and advertisers. The company announced Wednesday that it is purchasing 80,000 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock and 60,000 shares of Series B convertible preferred stock. 

The purchase price represents a 10% discount to the DMS’ preferred stock of $15.54 million. Additionally, the company is planning to acquire 14.4 shares of common stock at roughly $0.65 million per share. 

The capital raise through the private placement stock offering comes after the company announced earlier this month that it signed an agreement to acquire tech company HomeQuote.io from Missouri-based Customer Direct Group, along with the supporting media and technology assets of the ClickDealer international ad network, in a $35 million deal. 

“DMS was able to execute this financing from a combination of new and existing institutional investors, as well as certain founders of the company, which shows incredible support among existing shareholders. This transaction helps bolster the DMS balance sheet and, together with the acquisition of ClickDealer, will help position DMS to execute on our key strategic growth initiatives,” CEO Joe Marinucci said in a news release. 

DMS founders Marinucci, Fernando Borghese and Matthew Goodman participated in the purchase agreement with San Francisco-based venture capital firm Leo Investors. The investment group has a longstanding relationship with DMS. In 2020, Leo Investors helped DMS evolve into a publicly traded company. 

According to the latest financial reports, DMS earned $90.1 million of net revenue in the third quarter of 2022. DMS will release its fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2022 results Friday at 6:45 a.m.

RELATED: Digital Media Solutions acquires Traverse Data