Austin-based connected TV ad-tech company MNTN is being rewarded, and then some, for its bold, maverick-level decision to move forward with its initial public offering amid the broader market chill of President Trump’s trade war.
Backed by underwriters Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Evdercore ISI, MNTN on May 22 priced 11.7 million shares of its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange at $16 per share. Demand sizably surpassed the number of shares available, according to the company, by a factor of 14x. Trading for MNTN opened at $21 a share.
MNTN, which has an eponymous ticker symbol, closed trading Tuesday priced at $25.62 a share, its market cap reaching $1.971 billion.
Along with the $5.64 billion debut of Israeli tech company eToro last week, MNTN’s IPO was the first since Trump’s global tariffs drama started, with several previous high-profile IPOs getting scuttled.
MNTN press reps have yet to return our inquiries as to what convinced MNTN to move forward at a time when many IPO aspirants are backing down from the challenge. But company founder, president and CEO Mark Douglas told Inc., “They say the strongest swimmers jump in first. The investors we met with see the market opportunity here is huge.”
A quick perusal of an MNTN S-1 filing to the SEC last week supports investor bullishness. Revenue in 2024 was up 10x over 2020 to $226 million, with the client base for its performance TV software increasing by 769% over that span. First quarter revenue came in at $65 million, with performance TV revenue up 48%.
MNTN said from 2019-2024 it has generated $27 billion in revenue for customers via the ad campaigns they’ve run on the CTV platform.
Founded in 2018, MNTN isn’t profitable yet — it reported a net loss of $32.9 million in 2024. But a 19.4% increase in adjusted EBITDA last year tells investors the company — known to many for its appointment of actor Ryan Reynolds as chief creative officer — is in the right track.
MNTN makes AI-powered software technology that analyzes ad buyers’ digital collateral, namely their websites, searching for keywords that help target connected TV audiences.
Reynolds joined the company in 2021, when he sold marketing arm Maximum Effort Marketing to MNTN. The actor repurchased the unit in March and put it back into the fold of his Maximum Effort production company, but his position with the ad tech shop remains intact.