DeepIntent, a demand-side platform that helps healthcare and pharma brands including AstraZeneca, Bayer, Gilead, and Johnson & Johnson buy ad space, announced Tuesday that it’s secured a $637 million investment from private equity firm Vitruvian Partners.
Vitruvian acquires a majority share in the company with this investment. DeepIntent’s board of directors will be “reconstituted to include a select group of industry leaders and domain experts,” with the company continuing to operate independently under current chief executive and founder Chris Paquette, according to a joint statement shared Tuesday.
New board members have not been announced.
DeepIntent said it planned to use the new capital to build out and integrate generative AI tools within its tech stack. These developments will build on the company’s proprietary platform, which combines media decisioning with AI tools and clinical data.
“This investment is a powerful vote of confidence—not only in DeepIntent, but in the essential role our industry plays at the intersection of healthcare and media,” Paquette told ADWEEK. “It affirms our mission to responsibly connect these worlds so that patients and doctors alike can access the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about life-changing treatments. We’ve never been more confident in our ability to harness data science and advertising to improve patient outcomes at scale.”
Vitruvian Partners partner Sophie Bower-Straziota said in a statement that the firm is “excited to support the team in their rapid scaling,” adding that “DeepIntent sits at the forefront of powerful structural growth drivers, including the rise of personalized, patient-centered healthcare and the growing availability of data and machine learning to enable more meaningful connections with relevant audiences.”
Evercore acted as DeepIntent’s exclusive financial advisor on the deal. On the buy side, Vitruvian received advisory support from Canaccord Genuity, Houlihan Lokey, Kirkland & Ellis, Bain & Company, FTI Consulting, Epstein Becker & Green, and Crosslake.
Founded in 2016, DeepIntent uses real clinical data to help pharma and health brands execute marketing campaigns. It gives brands access to a health data marketplace, helps them build out custom audiences of patients and healthcare practitioners, and manages ad buys across channels. The company claims to service 19 of the top 20 global life sciences companies and their advertising agencies.
The investment from Vitruvian comes just two weeks after DeepIntent announced the launch of a free ad-supported TV offering, made to help healthcare advertisers reach audiences on premium streaming services.
Last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission blocked a planned acquisition of DeepIntent by health information technology company IQVIA over competition concerns.
