TouchTunes Acquired By Private Investment Firm

April 3, 2015 by Dave Haynes

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One of the larger digital OOH networks on the planet, Montreal’s TouchTunes Interactive Networks, has been acquired by a private investment firm, Searchlight Capital.

TouchTunes is mostly known as a digital jukebox company, and has units plugged in at more than 71,000 bars and restaurants across North America and Europe. But the jukeboxes have screens and a lot of dwell time, and along with playing music, the units run targeted advertising.

TouchTunes’ senior management team, based in both Montreal (technical) and New York, will continue to be a significant shareholder in the business. The news release calls out how the TouchTunes team “is widely respected in the industry, having significantly expanded the Company’s national network and market share.”

“We are deeply impressed by the management of TouchTunes,” says Eric Zinterhofer, a Founding Partner of Searchlight. “Charles Goldstuck and his team have a clear track record of successful innovation, on which they have built a market leading business in an attractive sector. TouchTunes has many exciting opportunities both in North America and internationally. We look forward to supporting the Company as it executes on this next phase of growth.”

No indication of deal value or terms.

Interesting company. I did some work for them a few years ago and spent time in both the Montreal and New York offices. One of the really great things is the jukebox business is all digital, so there are no coins or bills to regularly dig out of the machines. The platform just does a sweep of all the units to get all the credit card transactions. Tidy and efficient.

Searchlight Capital has an interesting portfolio. Along with TouchTunes, they also recently acquired the UK OOH firm Ocean Outdoor and the Canadian frozen food specialty chain M&M Meat Shops. They also have a cableco in Puerto Rico.

So this is clearly not a vertical integration play, or if it is, it’s, umm, different.

 

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