Liftoff Mobile’s initial public offering this week, which raised $437 million, representing a stock flotation price of $23 per share, was the latest test of the public market’s appetite for ad tech.
The debut of the Blackstone-backed mobile app outfit — it was the result of the private equity firm’s 2019 purchase of Vungle, and subsequent merger with its Liftoff holding — on the Nasdaq comes after an earlier attempt to go public was pulled in February, when broader software stocks sold off and the IPO window narrowed. This first run reportedly targeted a much larger raise — roughly $711 million at a $5.2 billion market cap — before Liftoff withdrew and returned with a more modest valuation pitch.
It also marks the first notable ad tech IPO since MNTN’s May 2025 listing, making it a useful barometer for whether investors are once again willing to back independent ad tech companies.
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