Synacor’s business in Buffalo has changed quite a bit – but that doesn’t mean its legacy is fading away.
Synacor itself continues as a private equity-owned tech business with email and authentication products and about 60 employees.
In the meantime, its portal and advertising business was acquired earlier this year by iMedia Brands Inc., a Minneapolis-based public company led by Tim Peterman, Synacor’s former chief operating officer.
IMedia plans to twine its existing businesses — lifestyle television networks and consumer brands – with the new services it has acquired.
And it plans to do that in Buffalo.
“We were missing the ingredients to be truly successful,” said Matt Leardini, who worked at Synacor for 15 years before coming over in the acquisition. “We landed in a place that had what we don’t have, and together it creates a great synergy.”
Leardini has been named president of iMedia’s Digital Services segment, leading a team of 20 employees in Buffalo and 35 overall. iMedia has established office space in the same La Riviere Drive office complex that housed Synacor.
The group has 19 open positions in engineering and operations that it is looking to fill immediately.
iMedia’s outfit in Buffalo runs two main services. That includes a market for digital advertising, including advertisers and websites. Leardini said iMedia will buoy the marketplace with known brands, such as Christopher & Banks and J.W. Hulme, while also using its data to create highly specific consumer insights to advertisers.
“If a luxury brand is looking for a specific audience, we have the data that can find it,” Leardini said.
Then there is the portal business, a specialized service for media and entertainment companies that need to make their content available online. They make the shows – iMedia helps stream them.
“These companies are really great at developing content but don’t have the same level of expertise on niche technology,” Leardini said.
Peterman said that iMedia has spent several years bolstering its existing services, including its ShopHQ television network and consumer brands. The Synacor acquisition adds a talented engineering team that will not only manage the company's own digital platforms but also use tech to pursue new opportunities, he said.
Portal and digital advertising aren't new concepts, but iMedia's successful products give them an advantage in the marketplace, Peterman said.
"We believe digital advertising is going to be driven by platforms that have first-party shopping data, which differentiates them in the marketplace," Peterman said. "iMedia Digital Services will have shopping data on millions and millions of customers, and they can go to market on a non-name basis to improve targeting and conversion."
Leardini said his job is now to find new team members who are interested in building something new.
“We’re looking to fill positions on the engineering and product side,” he said. “They will have a startup experience where IMDS is headed in a very mature and well-funded ecosystem.”
