San Francisco-based LiveRamp, an identity data platform, has acquired Amsterdam-based Faktor to streamline consent management across the open web. Factor provides tools for digital advertising and privacy, and the acquisition will reinforce LiveRamp’s focus on privacy and data stewardship. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
Due to evolving consumer privacy regulations like GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which will go into effect in 2020, companies need to navigate more complexity around compliance than ever before. With the acquisition of Faktor, LiveRamp can further help clients and partners ensure compliance as part of its larger privacy-focused suite of offerings in Europe, North America, and across the globe.
“The world’s largest and most innovative companies all believe that giving consumers increased visibility and control over their personal information is incredibly important, and recent regulatory requirements such as GDPR and the upcoming CCPA only make this more critical,” said LiveRamp CEO, Scott Howe. “With the acquisition of Faktor, we hope to send a powerful message to our customers, partners and the industry—that everyone should be informed and have control over how their data is used.”
Faktor is a consent management platform (CMP) that helps consumers to better manage how and where their data is used, publishers to receive the tools they need to operate sustainable business models, and brands to provide more meaningful experiences to their customers.
“This is a tool every single one of our enterprise customers and publisher partners should adopt, as it will significantly simplify and streamline the compliance process and enable better online experiences for their consumers,” added Howe.
In the coming quarters, any client or partner who needs to manage consent and maintain transparency to ensure compliance with CCPA will be able to utilize LiveRamp’s suite of privacy tools, and LiveRamp’s identity platform will also be fully integrated with Faktor’s offerings. This will enable consumers to use centralized consent management and persistent cross-device privacy controls, and give publishers access to a fully integrated consent and identity platform, enabling improved monetization and stronger consumer relationships.
“When we founded Faktor, we did so because we wanted to give consumers heightened control over their data, while still enabling brands and publishers to thrive. We wanted to power a real online value exchange,” said Tim Geenen, CEO of Faktor. “Through this acquisition, we’re excited to expand into new markets and to scale our platform to accommodate the growing need and demand for a simplified, people-centric consent management platform at the enterprise level.”
“Faktor is a trustworthy partner for us, and they enable choice and transparency to our users. This has been instrumental in enabling a stronger relationship with our customers,” said Mila Dimitrova, Data Protection Officer at NOVA Broadcasting Group. “They provide an excellent product and managed service, and we are excited for the increased commitment and capabilities that will come through the LiveRamp acquisition.”
Faktor will remain headquartered in Amsterdam, though it will leverage LiveRamp’s global foothold and solutions to cross-sell products and services to the combined customer portfolio. Maintaining an independent roadmap, Faktor will have its own dedicated product and engineering resources allowing for collaboration with LiveRamp to unlock synergies both ways.
