Aonic, a global group of multiplatform tech and gaming companies, has completed the acquisition of industry-leading research technology firm Prime Insights for a total transaction value in excess of $250 million.
This represents Aonic’s largest acquisition to date. Prime Insights joins Aonic’s existing firms to form a unified, global rewards and data platform spanning 50 million+ consumers, 12 owned and operated consumer brands, and approximately $300m+ in yearly revenues.
Through its flagship platform Exmox and recent investment in Mega Fortuna, Aonic already operates one of the largest gaming-focused discovery, testing and loyalty platforms, driving significant scale in user acquisition and insights for many of the world’s leading mobile game developers.
Meanwhile, Prime Insights has emerged in recent years as one of the fastest-growing companies in the $142 billion global research technology industry, a leader in programmatic sampling through its expansive global proprietary panels. It operates multiple mobile and web platforms, through which millions of users earn real money by completing online surveys.
The transaction marks a bold union of two category leaders in global rewards platforms, with both Exmox and Prime Insights delivering more than 80% organic growth per annum over the past two years. Prime Insights, Exmox and Mega Fortuna pride themselves on a growing number of high-profile and recurring B2B clients, primarily attributed to data quality, user experience and a technology-first approach. By joining forces, the firms double the scale of their platforms and enable both client bases – mobile game developers and consumer insights researchers alike – to achieve superior reach, insights and engagement.
Prime Insights was founded in 2022 by serial technology entrepreneur Benjamin Ritzka, who leads a unique team comprising around 120 people working across 17 countries globally.
Ritzka will continue to lead Prime Insights as CEO and has reinvested a significant amount of the transaction proceeds into Aonic, becoming one of the group's largest shareholders to supercharge the joint vision of a global, unified rewards platform spanning user acquisition and data insights.
Aonic CEO Paul Schempp
“Prime Insights has rewritten the rules in programmatic data collection for consumer insights as a true disruptor in the highly competitive world of research technology,” says Aonic CEO and co-founder Paul Schempp. “It is rare to come across such a brilliant tech entrepreneur as Benjamin, and as powerful a team as Prime Insights, so we couldn’t be happier to partner up. This transaction marks a major step in our vision of becoming a dominant global player. Bringing together scale, data and technology will be the key to sharpening our competitive edge. We welcome Benjamin and his team with highest regards – they deserve every accolade.”
Prime Insights CEO Benjamin Ritzka
“The growth path we achieved with Prime Insights over recent years is unprecedented in our industry,” says Benjamin Ritzka, CEO and Founder of Prime Insights. “A transaction of this scale is an amazing validation of everything we’ve built. A huge thanks to my fantastic team at Prime Insights.
“I couldn’t have thought of a better match than with Aonic and I’m a big believer in our shared vision. We share the same culture, mindset and ambition. The two firms are extremely complementary, which will allow us to double down on adding unparalleled value to our clients and users. Our team is excited to join Aonic in building the global market leader of rewards platforms.”
Exmox CEO Caglar Eger
Exmox CEO Caglar Eger adds: “There are huge synergies between our work at Exmox in rewarded user acquisition for gaming clients and the rewarded survey platforms offered by Prime Insights. Prime Insights’ edge in data collection and analysis will allow us to turbo-charge engagement for gaming clients, while our scale and focus on user engagement will significantly improve data quality and reach for the consumer insights industry. We’re extremely excited to begin the work together!”
Oberon Securities served as the financial advisor to Prime Insights through this transaction to Aonic. DLA Piper served as legal advisor to Aonic. EY served as financial and tax adviser to Aonic.
About Prime Insights:
Prime Insights is an industry-leading research technology firm. Its innovative technology, matching millions of respondents and surveys in real-time, allowed it to become one of the largest research technology firms worldwide, with over 100 million completed surveys annually.
About Aonic:
Aonic is a fast-growing, global technology and video gaming group spanning more than 600 employees across 12 companies. The group operates proprietary user acquisition platforms serving many of the world’s largest mobile game developers, as well as developing and publishing a wide range of its own multiplatform video games to excite gamers worldwide.
About Exmox:
Exmox helps its partners scale their user base, increase ROAS, improve retention, and boost the overall LTV of users through its cutting-edge multi-reward engagement system. With a focus on delivering measurable success, Exmox is a trusted partner for growth in the mobile gaming space.
