Roqad acquires Zeotap-Data to strengthen European identity leadership

Roqad, Europe's largest trusted identity aggregator and data onboarding partner, announced on September 2, 2025, the acquisition of Zeotap-Data, Zeotap's third-party audience business, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition strengthens Roqad's position in the European identity resolution market while addressing growing demand for privacy-safe, personalized targeting capabilities.

The combination merges Roqad's cutting-edge identity graphs and data onboarding capabilities with Zeotap-Data's large-scale third-party audience segments and deep integrations with trading platforms. According to the announcement, advertisers will benefit from greater scale and accuracy of targeting that complies with privacy regulations, along with seamless activation across multiple demand-side platforms.

Exclusive Amazon DSP integration drives acquisition value

A key differentiator in this acquisition centers on Zeotap-Data's exclusive integration with Amazon DSP. Brands and advertising technology vendors can now expand and enrich their first-party data with Zeotap-Data's third-party segments and activate these IDs for targeting across Amazon's demand-side platform. This exclusive integration provides capabilities that no other European company currently offers, according to Carsten Frien, Founder and CEO of Roqad.

"We're excited about Zeotap-Data's exclusive integration into the Amazon DSP and being able to now offer clients the huge reach and precision of targeting this allows; nobody else in Europe can do that," Frien stated. The integration also extends to other major trading platforms including The Trade Desk and Adform.

Amazon DSP has been expanding its partnerships throughout 2025. Disney inventory became available on Amazon DSP in June, creating direct access to premium streaming content across Disney+, ESPN, and Hulu. The platform also introduced Similar Audiences beta in September 2024, using AI to expand advertiser reach without relying on third-party cookies or identifiers.

Geographic expansion plans and timeline

Initial markets benefiting from the acquisition include the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France. Roqad plans to expand the offering to the United States and Asia-Pacific regions in Q3 2025. The company's existing client base includes Microsoft Advertising, Samsung Ads, Nielsen, Publicis, Epsilon, Zeta, and other large advertising technology players.

The acquisition builds upon Roqad's June launch of Link, a data collaboration service built on AWS Clean Rooms. Through Roqad Link, companies can securely match their first-party data against Roqad's consented ID graph to expand their addressable audience, verify consent status, enable precise cross-device targeting, and measure campaign performance while maintaining control of their data. Zeotap-Data will be integrated into this cleanroom environment, further improving accuracy and scale.

Technical infrastructure and data capabilities

Zeotap-Data offers people-based and deterministic data composed of billions of unique IDs, refreshed daily to ensure fidelity and accuracy. The platform leverages exclusive data partnerships from the telecom sector, premium publishers, and leading European data providers. According to the press release, Zeotap Data is fully-consented, GDPR and ePrivacy compliant.

The data is presented in universally recognizable segmentation to cater for all sectors and remains accessible through every major buying channel. The technical infrastructure supports the multi-ID world with flexibility, breadth, and depth of online and offline IDs in what the company describes as a complex and evolving ecosystem.

This technical approach addresses current industry challenges. Privacy-enhancing technologies have become increasingly important for digital advertising, with companies needing to balance personalization requirements against compliance obligations across jurisdictions with varying privacy standards.

Industry context and market consolidation

The acquisition occurs amid significant consolidation within the marketing technology sector. WPP acquired InfoSum in April 2025 to strengthen AI-driven data capabilities. The InfoSum acquisition gave WPP access to data collaboration technology that enables companies to connect data sources securely without moving or exposing underlying data.

Privacy regulations continue reshaping data management practices across the industry. According to InfoSum documentation cited in related coverage, 137 countries have enacted modern data privacy laws covering 79.3% of the world's population as of March 2024. The Transparency and Consent Framework version 2.3 addresses vendor disclosure ambiguity, providing greater certainty for how vendors can process data under GDPR.

Data protection authorities have increased enforcement activity. The Irish Data Protection Commission launched an inquiry into X's use of EU user data for AI training in April 2025, marking one of the first major regulatory investigations into social media content use for AI training in the European Union.

Strategic implications for Zeotap's CDP business

Under the deal, the merged companies will retain all current staff with an additional 20% headcount added in the United Kingdom and Germany. Zeotap-Data will continue operating as a third-party data provider under the Roqad brand.

Elad Simon, CEO of Zeotap, emphasized how the partnership enables focus on core customer data platform capabilities. "It will allow us to focus 100% of our efforts as a company on our CDP customers and capabilities, which will strengthen our position as the leading CDP in Europe," Simon said. The exclusive partnership with Roqad means maintaining and enhancing competitive edge in the CDP space through making Audience Boost the leading audience expansion solution in the CDP market.

Zeotap achieved Google Cloud Ready BigQuery certification in April 2025, validating its enterprise data platform integration capabilities. This technical validation confirms seamless integration with Google Cloud's data warehouse solution and potentially strengthens Zeotap's position among enterprise buyers who prioritize technical validation and cloud integration capabilities.

Identity resolution market dynamics

The identity resolution market faces ongoing challenges from cookie deprecation, platform fragmentation, and declining audience match rates. Alternative solutions have emerged across the industry. Semcasting launched Activate, a cookie-free audience and attribution platform that introduced federated ID concepts where every user on every platform has their own unique ID for each use, rather than attempting to create universal ID replacements.

LiveRamp announced integrations with Amazon Ads in February 2024, focusing on privacy-centric solutions leveraging LiveRamp's unique identity framework. The collaboration enables utilizing RampID, LiveRamp's pseudonymous identifier, to connect first and third-party data with Amazon Marketing Cloud for measurement and audience activation on Amazon DSP.

The market has shown growing emphasis on first-party data utilization. Google's Display & Video 360 introduced privacy-preserving tools in January 2025, including Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation (PAIR), which connects advertiser and publisher first-party data without compromising user privacy.

Financial and operational details

Financial terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed. The transaction represents Roqad's continued investment in expanding its identity solutions across European markets. The company takes an agnostic and privacy-first approach to the multi-ID world, offering flexibility, breadth, and depth of online and offline IDs.

Roqad's identity solutions are used by advertising technology players to enrich and expand their first-party data sets, enabling efficient cross-device targeting and attribution. The acquisition of Zeotap-Data extends these capabilities while adding exclusive access to Amazon DSP integration and enhanced third-party audience segments.

The combined entity positions itself to address critical challenges of privacy-compliant identity resolution, data onboarding, and data activation in digital advertising. Frien noted the importance of transparency and trust in a cookieless world where traditional identification methods face increasing limitations.

Timeline

• June 2025: Roqad launches Link data collaboration service built on AWS Clean Rooms
• September 2, 2025: Roqad announces acquisition of Zeotap-Data for undisclosed amount
• Q3 2025: Planned expansion to US and APAC markets
• April 2025: Zeotap achieves Google Cloud Ready BigQuery certification
• April 2025: WPP acquires InfoSum to strengthen data capabilities
• January 2025: Google introduces privacy-preserving advertising tools in Display & Video 360

PPC Land explains

Identity Resolution: The process of connecting customer data across multiple touchpoints, devices, and platforms to create unified customer profiles. In the context of this acquisition, identity resolution enables advertisers to recognize the same user across different digital environments without relying on traditional cookies. Roqad's identity graphs serve as the technical foundation for this process, aggregating various online and offline identifiers to create comprehensive user profiles while maintaining privacy compliance.

First-Party Data: Information collected directly from customers through owned channels such as websites, mobile apps, email interactions, and purchase transactions. This data type has become increasingly valuable as third-party cookies face deprecation and privacy regulations tighten. The Roqad-Zeotap acquisition enables brands to expand and enrich their first-party data with third-party audience segments, creating more robust targeting capabilities while maintaining data ownership and control.

Amazon DSP: Amazon's demand-side platform that allows advertisers to programmatically buy display, video, and audio advertising across Amazon-owned properties and third-party exchanges. Zeotap-Data's exclusive integration with Amazon DSP represents a significant competitive advantage, as no other European company currently offers this capability. The platform provides access to Amazon's vast consumer data and purchasing insights, enabling more precise audience targeting and campaign optimization.

GDPR Compliance: Adherence to the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union's comprehensive privacy law that governs how personal data is collected, processed, and stored. Both Roqad and Zeotap-Data emphasize their GDPR-compliant operations, which is crucial for advertisers operating in European markets. The regulation requires explicit consent for data processing and grants users extensive rights over their personal information, making compliant identity solutions essential for digital advertising.

Data Onboarding: The technical process of transferring offline customer data into digital advertising platforms for online targeting and activation. Roqad specializes in this capability, enabling brands to use their customer relationship management data for digital advertising campaigns. The process involves matching offline identifiers like email addresses or phone numbers with online identifiers while maintaining privacy standards and regulatory compliance.

Third-Party Audience Segments: Pre-built audience categories created from aggregated data across multiple sources, typically sold by data providers to advertisers who want to reach specific demographic or behavioral groups. Zeotap-Data's third-party segments complement Roqad's identity solutions by providing ready-made audience options for advertisers who may lack sufficient first-party data for effective targeting. These segments are refreshed daily and sourced from telecom, publisher, and data provider partnerships.

AWS Clean Rooms: Amazon Web Services' data collaboration technology that enables organizations to analyze and activate data insights without sharing raw data sets. Roqad's Link service, built on this infrastructure, allows companies to match their first-party data against Roqad's consented ID graph while maintaining data control and privacy. The technology provides a secure environment for data collaboration without exposing sensitive customer information to external parties.

Cross-Device Targeting: The ability to identify and reach the same user across multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and connected televisions. This capability requires sophisticated identity resolution technology to link device identifiers to individual users. The Roqad-Zeotap combination enhances cross-device targeting accuracy by combining identity graphs with audience data, enabling advertisers to deliver consistent messaging across the entire customer journey.

Privacy-Compliant Scale: The capability to reach large audiences while adhering to privacy regulations and user consent requirements. This concept addresses the fundamental challenge facing digital advertisers: maintaining targeting effectiveness as traditional identification methods become less reliable. The acquisition combines Roqad's privacy-first approach with Zeotap-Data's large-scale audience capabilities, providing advertisers with broad reach that meets regulatory standards.

Trading Platforms: Technology systems that facilitate the buying and selling of digital advertising inventory through automated auctions and direct deals. These platforms, including The Trade Desk, Adform, and Amazon DSP, serve as the infrastructure where advertisers bid on available advertising space. Zeotap-Data's deep integrations with multiple trading platforms provide advertisers with seamless access to diverse inventory sources and activation capabilities across the digital advertising ecosystem.

Summary

Who: Roqad, Europe's largest trusted identity aggregator, acquired Zeotap-Data, the third-party audience business of customer data platform Zeotap. Key executives include Carsten Frien, Founder and CEO of Roqad, and Elad Simon, CEO of Zeotap.

What: The acquisition combines Roqad's identity solutions with Zeotap-Data's third-party audience segments and trading platform integrations. The deal includes exclusive Amazon DSP integration capabilities and expansion of privacy-compliant targeting solutions across European markets.

When: The acquisition was announced on September 2, 2025, with plans to expand to US and APAC markets in Q3 2025. The merged companies will retain all current staff with 20% additional headcount in the UK and Germany.

Where: Initial markets include the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France, with planned expansion to the United States and Asia-Pacific regions. Operations will continue across Roqad's existing European infrastructure and Zeotap-Data's trading platform integrations.

Why: The acquisition addresses growing demand for privacy-safe, personalized targeting as traditional identity solutions face challenges from cookie deprecation and increasing privacy regulations. The combination provides advertisers with greater scale and accuracy while maintaining compliance with GDPR and other privacy frameworks.