STRATACACHE Announces 2nd Acquisition In 24 Hours – Toronto’s Dot2Dot Communications

June 4, 2024 by Dave Haynes

It is apparently M&A Day around STRATACACHE HQ, with news of a second company added to the larger business family – the small Toronto-area solutions provider Dot2Dot Communications.

This is on the heels of STRATACACHE announcing its acquisition of the German services provider MasterPoint.

The connective tissue with this new deal is quite strong and deep, as Dot2Dot’s roots are as Scala Canada, prior to STRATACACHE acquiring Scala in 2016. The company continued as a Scala partner offering digital signage solutions for retail and corporate, but has also had for many years an advertising manager platform for the digital out of home market, and that’s where STRATACACHE CEO Chris Riegel sees the main linkage with his company’s efforts.

“With the continued growth and evolution of the Out-of-Home media industry and its ongoing adoption of more advanced digital experiences, the acquisition of Dot2Dot perfectly aligns with the STRATACACHE strategy of connected media audiences” says  Riegel. “The pairing of Dot2Dot’s Ad Manager platform with our Scala CMS, Walkbase Audience Insights solutions and global managed network capabilities for Out of Home media companies and new media developers will drive significant incremental revenue opportunities for the company.”

Dot2Dot’s Ad Manager platform is a leading digital inventory management solution for Tier 2 and Tier 3 Out of Home media companies, Airports, Shopping Malls, Stadiums, Transportation Centers and Corporate Real Estate developers who wish to turn visitors and consumer traffic into profitable engaged media audiences. Dot2Dot’s notable clients include Adams Outdoor, Reagan Outdoor, Maple Leaf Foods, Home Depot, Hydro One, Milwaukee Tools, Quadreal Properties, Seneca College, OLG, Allvision/Rogers, Quebecor, RBC, and Aritzia

“We are very excited to be joining the STRATACACHE Family and working closely with all the partner companies” says Andy McRae, General Manager of Dot2Dot. “The additional resources and capabilities now available to us ensure that our Out of Home and retail focused solutions will lead the industry. We expect tremendous growth over the next few years.”

“As an Out of Home leader, Dot2Dot perfectly complements our PRN In-Store Retail media business as we continue to grow full funnel opportunities for CPG and FMCG brands to engage with consumers all along their path to purchase,” says Kevin Carbone, CEO of Scala. “The building and monetization of consumer audiences is part of our DNA and helping brands positively impact their engagement with the consumer is a significant opportunity for the company and our industry as a whole.”

The deal also means STRATACACHE has control and product development direction of an ad module – as opposed to needing to work with a third-party or a competitor like a Broadsign. One of STRATACACHE’S main competitors, Creative Realities, got an in-house ad manager solution, AdLogic, when it acquired Reflect. STRATACACHE, perhaps more than any other company in the sector, likes to own its full solution stack and not rely on third-party solutions.