Rockbridge Growth Equity, a partnership-oriented private equity firm with a differentiated approach to building and growing companies, announced that it has sold GSTV to MidOcean Partners. Rockbridge will keep a minority stake in GSTV, a nationwide video network available at fuel and convenience retailers.
GSTV is a data-driven national video platform entertaining targeted audiences at scale across 29,000+ fuel retailers. It helps drive immediate purchase decisions and creates lasting brand impressions for some of the world’s largest advertisers. Positioned at the intersection of DOOH, digital video, and retail media, GSTV is poised to accelerate into the future.
Under Rockbridge, GSTV completed several major strategic initiatives. And these include recruiting key additions to the Company’s management team; scaling the sales and marketing teams; expanding analytics capabilities; completing a strategic merger; investing in programmatic capabilities; and diversifying revenue sources.
Advisors: Moelis & Company and Solomon Partners served as financial advisors to GSTV and Honigman served as legal advisor to Rockbridge and GSTV. And Gibson Dunn was legal advisor to MidOcean.
Gibson Dunn acted as legal advisor to MidOcean. And Moelis & Company and Solomon Partners served as financial advisors to GSTV and Honigman served as legal advisor.
KEY QUOTES:
“Through our partnership with the GSTV team, we successfully transformed the business to realize new opportunities in an evolving media landscape. Rockbridge understood that advertisers need new channels to reach today’s consumers, and GSTV has delivered a captive audience that we believe has more potential to grow. We look forward to supporting the GSTV and MidOcean teams as the Company embarks on its next chapter.”
Brian Hermelin, Managing Partner and co-founder of Rockbridge
“Rockbridge has been a strong partner to GSTV over the years, and we are proud of the accomplishments we achieved together. We are excited for the future and working together with MidOcean and Rockbridge on new initiatives.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with MidOcean to accelerate GSTV’s next phase of growth. The convergence of digital video, retail media, and data-driven advertising presents an extraordinary opportunity – and GSTV sits at the center of that evolution. MidOcean’s strategic insight, operating experience, and track record in scaling media platforms make them the ideal partner as we expand our national footprint, deepen our retail and programmatic capabilities, and continue delivering measurable impact for our brand partners.”
Sean McCaffrey, CEO of GSTV
“GSTV is uniquely positioned at the intersection of retail media, digital video, and digital out-of-home – three of the fastest-growing areas in advertising today. Brands are increasingly seeking measurable, high-impact ways to engage consumers near the point of purchase, and GSTV’s national scale and ability to deliver contextually relevant content in real time delivers proven results. Our investment thesis in this space was developed in partnership with our executive advisors Jim Wilson and Eric Kozic, who bring deep expertise in digital media and marketing services to MidOcean. We’re thrilled to have Jim joining as Chairman of the Board and look forward to partnering with Sean McCaffrey and the GSTV team to support the Company’s continued expansion.”
Marshall Phelps, Managing Director at MidOcean
