Stratacache Acquires European Pharmacy Ad Network, Plans 10X Expansion, Inc. US

December 13, 2017 by Dave Haynes

STRATACACHE and its subsidiary PRN have acquired iDKLIC, a Belgian digital marketing and signage provider that does ad-based in-pharmacy digital health and wellness networks.

The company has about 1,250 sites right now but STRATACACHE CEO Chris Riegel says the plan is more than 10X of that – 15,000 sites – by the end of 2019.

iDKLIC’s Pharmaseen platform currently operates in Belgium, France, Ireland and Luxembourg, and pending opportunities in the U.K., Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The plan is to also bring the model into independent pharmacies in the United States, via PRN. The company will operate within a newly-formed PRN Health Ltd.

The network will take advantage of all the many capabilities within STRATACACHE’S increasingly vertical, closed stack of companies and services.

iDKLIC’s co-founder and CEO, Jean-Charles Figoni, will stay on as CEO and run the company’s expansion in Europe. “Since 2006, our company has been receiving a positive response from advertisers and customers,” he says. “Our concept is established in over 1,250 pharmacies, reaching 2 million impressions per day. We are looking forward to further expanding the number of pharmacies and advertisers in Europe.

“iDKLIC has built a successful model for serving European pharmacy customers,” says Kevin Carbone, CEO of PRN. “With access to the technology, operational expertise and investment capital of PRN and STRATACACHE, iDKLIC can now deliver its proven value-added model to more pharmacy customers in more countries across Europe.  The acquisition will also give PRN access to a proven platform for serving independent pharmacies and regional drugstore chains in North America.”

It is the second STRATACACHE acquisition in Europe in recent weeks, and not the last, as Riegel has a new M&A wing poking around Europe and nearby locales looking at companies that might add to the mix.

Riegel might also be thinking longer term, by getting into retail pharma, about condition-specific clinics, given the legal turbulence once high-flying Outcome Health has experienced lately.  If you are going to get into digital OOH, big pharma offers a nice combination of a limited set of companies to chase and deep pockets to try to dip into.