Advertising boss Sir Martin Sorrell is launching a £110m venture capital fund aimed at early-stage ad-tech companies as he looks to capitalise on new start-ups entering the sector.
Sorrell, chief executive of S4 Capital and former boss of advertising giant WPP, is launching the fund with investor Daniel Pinto, and former WPP executive Sanja Partalo, The Sunday Times reported today.
Sorrell and Pinto are expected to pump $15m of their own money into the fund and sit on the investment committee.
Partalo, former head of strategic development at WPP, will run the fund which will reportedly target ad tech, data analysis, content development and new digital media and tap into firms developing ad services for new platforms like the Metaverse, according to the reports.
Sorrell told the Times that S4 did not want to commit capital to tech and “take the technology risk” and felt that a venture capital fund was a more appropriate vehicle to invest in early stage companies.
He said: “We thought there was an opportunity to leverage our knowledge in VC. We have 7,500 people in 33 countries.”
Sorrell founded S4 Capital in 2018 after being ousted from WPP following allegations of impropriety.
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