# MediaMath
MediaMath was a New York-based programmatic advertising technology company, founded in 2007, that built a demand-side platform (DSP), a tool that lets marketers buy digital ad inventory through automated auctions rather than by dealing with publishers one at a time.[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465) It raised more than $600 million over its life, reached a valuation above $1 billion and served 3,500 brand and agency customers, but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 30, 2023, and its assets were sold that August to the ad-tech firm Infillion for $22 million.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/) • [3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007, New York, NY; founder Joseph (Joe) Zawadzki[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1469591/000146959111000001/0001469591-11-000001.txt) |
| Sector | Programmatic ad tech: demand-side platform (DSP) and data management tools for digital marketers[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465) |
| Total raised | More than $600 million since 2007 (press); the July 2018 Form D alone reported $126 million sold of a $226 million offering[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/) • [5](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1746693/0001746693-18-000001.txt) |
| Peak scale | Valuation above $1 billion; 750 employees at peak; 3,500 brand and agency customers[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7) • [2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/) |
| Bankruptcy | Chapter 11 filed June 30, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware; assets and liabilities each $100–500 million[7](https://www.wsj.com/articles/private-equity-backed-mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-and-plans-to-wind-down-6ab48411) |
| Outcome | Assets acquired by Infillion for $22 million; deal announced as closed September 14, 2023[8](https://www.businessinsider.com/mediamath-the-rise-fall-and-return-2023-12) • [1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465) |
## Founding and early years
MediaMath, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in 2007 and operated from 1440 Broadway in New York.[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1469591/000146959111000001/0001469591-11-000001.txt) An early Form D filing lists Joseph Zawadzki as executive officer, director, and promoter, with Ari Buchalter and Jeannie Mun as executive officers and Erik Rasmussen and Nigel Morris as directors.[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1469591/000146959111000001/0001469591-11-000001.txt) Zawadzki led the company as CEO for most of its independent life; Digiday describes him as the founder who started the company in 2007.[9](https://digiday.com/media-buying/infillion-is-confirmed-as-mediamaths-new-owner-as-a-familiar-face-slides-back-into-view/)
The company's later legal entity, MediaMath Holdings, Inc. (CIK 0001746693), was also a Delaware corporation, headquartered at [4 World Trade Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/4-world-trade-center), 150 Greenwich Street, New York.[5](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1746693/0001746693-18-000001.txt)
## Products and market role
MediaMath created the first demand-side platform, according to Infillion's acquisition announcement, and its flagship TerminalOne platform let brands and agencies buy programmatically across exchanges and supply-side platforms (SSPs), which sell publisher inventory into those auctions.[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465) The announcement cites comScore projecting the global programmatic advertising market would top $148 billion in 2023, the market MediaMath helped define.[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465)
When MediaMath shut off platform access on June 30, 2023, buy-side partners had to scramble over the July 4 weekend to migrate client campaigns to other platforms.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/) • [3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/) AdExchanger described the closure as creating a vacuum in the independent DSP market that [The Trade Desk](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-trade-desk), Viant, and Google would rush to fill.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/)
## Funding and investors
The financing record combines primary filings with press totals:
- A Form D filed July 16, 2018 and signed by General Counsel Peter Piazza reported an offering of preferred stock and warrants, dated June 29, 2018, with $126 million sold of a $226 million offering and $100 million remaining, placed through RBC Capital Markets.[5](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1746693/0001746693-18-000001.txt)
- In 2017, MediaMath took a $150 million credit facility from [Goldman Sachs](https://www.edgepedia.org/goldman-sachs) and was still repaying it at the time of the collapse.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/)
- In 2022, the company recapitalized by selling a controlling stake to Searchlight Capital in exchange for an agreement to invest up to $150 million through fresh capital and debt refinancing; the deal wiped out the equity of early investors and co-founders including Zawadzki.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/)
- In aggregate, AdExchanger reports MediaMath raised more than $600 million since 2007.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/)
## Business, customers and traction
At its peak, MediaMath served a roster of 3,500 brand and agency customers, employed 750 people, and had drawn acquisition interest from [Singtel](https://www.edgepedia.org/singtel), IBM, and [Bain Capital](https://www.edgepedia.org/bain-capital).[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/) • [6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7) According to Infillion's own account at the time of the acquisition, MediaMath in 2022 had over $500 million of gross ad spend, over $100 million of net revenue, and was EBITDA positive; this is the seller's characterization, not an independently audited figure.[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465)
## The 2023 collapse and Infillion acquisition
MediaMath filed for Chapter 11 protection on Friday, June 30, 2023, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in [Wilmington, Delaware](https://www.edgepedia.org/wilmington-delaware), listing both assets and liabilities in the $100 million to $500 million range, after out-of-court talks with potential buyers or investors failed.[7](https://www.wsj.com/articles/private-equity-backed-mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-and-plans-to-wind-down-6ab48411) The company announced it would cease operations that day.[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7)
The causes were a stack of obligations meeting a slowing market. Bankruptcy filings showed about $125 million in trade liabilities owed to hundreds of companies, including Google, Microsoft's Xandr, Magnite, and PubMatic, plus about $165 million in outstanding loans.[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7) Amid slowing digital-advertising growth and a credit market spooked by the [Silicon Valley Bank](https://www.edgepedia.org/silicon-valley-bank) collapse, the company kept burning cash and defaulted again on its Goldman Sachs credit agreement.[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7) About 300 employees lost their jobs as the business wound down.[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7)
In the August 2023 auction, Infillion was the highest bidder at $22 million in cash; the purchase excluded the financial liabilities incurred under prior leadership.[8](https://www.businessinsider.com/mediamath-the-rise-fall-and-return-2023-12) • [3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/) Infillion announced the closing of the asset acquisition on September 14, 2023, with plans to relaunch the platform in early 2024.[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465) AperiamVentures, the investment fund led by former MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki, advised on the winning bid.[1](https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465) • [9](https://digiday.com/media-buying/infillion-is-confirmed-as-mediamaths-new-owner-as-a-familiar-face-slides-back-into-view/)
Individual creditor claims in the filing included [Magnite](https://www.edgepedia.org/magnite) ($12.6 million), PubMatic ($10.4 million), Sonobi ($5.3 million), Equativ ($3.4 million), Xandr ($4 million), TripleLift ($2.8 million), [Google Ads](https://www.edgepedia.org/google-ads) ($1.7 million), and AdsWizz ($3.4 million).[3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/) Digiday's two reports put the top 30 creditors' collective claim at $75 million at the filing and $73 million in later inspection of the documents; the sources do not reconcile the two figures.[9](https://digiday.com/media-buying/infillion-is-confirmed-as-mediamaths-new-owner-as-a-familiar-face-slides-back-into-view/) • [3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/)
## By the numbers
The arithmetic of the collapse is stark. A company that raised more than $600 million and once carried a billion-dollar valuation sold for $22 million, against its own filing's estimate of $100 million to $500 million in assets.[2](https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/) • [3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/) More than $125 million was owed collectively to creditors, many of them supply-side platforms whose publisher clients were left out of pocket, and many of the company's 300-plus former staff were also left short-changed.[3](https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/) The 750-employee peak versus roughly 300 job losses at wind-down shows how far headcount had already contracted before the end.[6](https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7)
## References
1. Infillion press release: Infillion Closes Deal to Acquire MediaMath. https://www.newswire.com/news/infillion-closes-deal-to-acquire-mediamath-22127465
2. AdExchanger: MediaMath To File For Bankruptcy After Acquisition Talks Fall Apart. https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-after-acquisition-talks-fall-apart/
3. Digiday: MediaMath has signed dozens of SSPs, including former short-changed creditors. https://digiday.com/media-buying/mediamath-has-signed-dozens-of-ssps-including-former-short-changed-creditors-after-ad-techs-biggest-bankruptcy/
4. SEC Form D, MediaMath, Inc. (CIK 0001469591). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1469591/000146959111000001/0001469591-11-000001.txt
5. SEC Form D, MediaMath Holdings, Inc., filed July 16, 2018. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1746693/0001746693-18-000001.txt
6. Business Insider: The Inside Story of Why MediaMath Filed for Bankruptcy. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-why-mediamath-filed-chapter-11-bankruptcy-2023-7
7. WSJ: Private Equity-Backed MediaMath Files for Bankruptcy and Plans to Wind Down. https://www.wsj.com/articles/private-equity-backed-mediamath-files-for-bankruptcy-and-plans-to-wind-down-6ab48411
8. Business Insider: MediaMath: the Rise, Fall, and Return. https://www.businessinsider.com/mediamath-the-rise-fall-and-return-2023-12
9. Digiday: Infillion is confirmed as MediaMath's new owner. https://digiday.com/media-buying/infillion-is-confirmed-as-mediamaths-new-owner-as-a-familiar-face-slides-back-into-view/
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*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license