Banzai lists via SPAC, raises $100M and buys Hyros for $110M to arm its M&A run

Banzai is an engagement-marketing suite — tools to source and connect with sales leads plus online video events (it had bought webinar startup Demio) — sold to sales and marketing teams.

A public listing can be M&A currency: become the acquirer in martech's next 48 months of consolidation instead of a target.

$110M for Hyros in cash and stock; $100M raised for future activities, including $100M arranged earlier in 2022 from Global Emerging Markets; combined equity value $580M, enterprise value $380M.

Banzai rode COVID's video boom by acquiring webinar platform Demio, but CEO Joe Davy saw video as only part of the job: 'We see ourselves as a sales and marketing platform first, and video platform second', anchored on video the way HubSpot and Marketo anchored on email.

On 8 December 2022 Banzai announced a SPAC merger with 7GC & Co Holdings (VII, a $230M vehicle from the 7GC growth fund and Hennessy Capital led by Jack Leeney), a $100M raise, and the $110M purchase of Hyros, an advertising and marketing attribution startup. 'Doing this merger solves several things in one fell swoop. It adds some cash to our balance sheet, gives us a public currency, and allows us to acquire Hyros', Davy said.

The combined Banzai International was set to trade on Nasdaq's Capital Market tier, holding video events plus attribution, with Davy expecting 'a lot of consolidation in the next 48 months in martech'.

A SPAC gave Banzai scale capital and acquisition currency at a moment private investors would not fund growth at price.

Buying attribution turns video events from a feature into a measurable marketing stack — the platform playbook email suites ran.

The company was explicit that the listing's purpose was future M&A: a public currency for a 48-month consolidation window.

When your industry is about to consolidate, a listing is not the exit — it is the weapon you use to do the acquiring.

As of the announcement, the combined Banzai International was preparing to trade on Nasdaq's Capital Market tier under the SPAC's sponsor 7GC & Co Holdings, with the $100M raise earmarked for future activity.