Walmart announces acquisition of Silicon Valley startup Polymorph Labs

Walmart continues to build its advertising business (Walmart Media Group) with the announcement Thursday (April 11) of another acquisition.

The Bentonville-based company says it has a deal in place to buy the technology and assets of Polymorph Labs, a California-based advertising startup.

Financial terms were not disclosed in a Walmart news release announcing the deal.

Polymorph’s technology, according to the release, will be integrated into Walmart Media Group’s proprietary omnichannel ad targeting and measurement platform. Polymorph’s team of product developers and engineers will join Walmart Media Group in its two California offices (San Bruno and Sunnyvale) as well as an office in Bangalore, India.

The deal is expected to close later this spring.

Polymorph was founded in 2013. The company has developed a cloud-based, self-serve platform that connects to thousands of automated supply-side ad-buying systems and “empowers advertisers to create, manage, and monetize native ad inventory across multiple channels,” the news release said.

“Polymorph’s technology platform, which has already proven itself at scale over the past five years, will enable Walmart advertisers to on-board quickly, select audience segments based on shopping behavior (e.g., cat food buyers vs. dog food buyers), automate ad delivery and then measure whether their ads influenced a sale,” Stefanie Jay, vice president and general manager of Walmart Media Group, said in a statement. “The company’s ad server is also much faster than the traditional client-side servers, so Walmart shoppers online or via our mobile app will be served advertising that is more relevant and delivered faster.”