Verve Group launches retail media offering

Verve Group announced today the launch of its retail media offering, establishing a closed-loop system between mobile advertising and in-store retail purchases in Germany. While we view this as a logical and strategically sound expansion, leveraging the point-of-sale capabilities acquired through Acardo in late 2025, we maintain a cautious stance on its near-term financial contribution. Management has explicitly stated that the current 2026 guidance excludes any contribution from this expansion, apart from the moderate growth already expected from 2025 acquisitions, but has left the current guidance unchanged at this point. Consequently, this announcement does not lead to any immediate changes in our estimates.

A logical strategic step into a high-growth vertical

Retail media refers to advertising that runs in and around retail environments, both online retailer websites and physical stores, and is one of the fastest-growing parts of the digital advertising market. Bridging the gap between digital ad exposure and physical point-of-sale (POS, meaning cash registers that record what consumers actually buy) transactions has been a persistent industry challenge. Verve’s new offering combines its mobile advertising infrastructure with first-party POS transaction data and proprietary Add2Wallet coupon technology (digital coupons saved directly to mobile wallets like Apple or Google Wallet and redeemed at checkout).

The company has rapidly built Germany's largest independent cross-retailer in-store media network, reaching 8,500 grocery and drugstore locations, 9,000 pharmacies, and 830 cinemas. Partnerships with retailers like EDEKA, REWE, Müller Drogerie, and Kaufland allow it to reach over 85% of German households. Pilot campaigns used a Difference-in-Differences methodology, which compares sales in stores running the ads against similar stores that did not, to isolate the actual impact. These trials demonstrated an average 9% incremental sales uplift for participating CPG brands (consumer packaged goods: everyday products like food, beverages, and household items).

If this technical capability proves replicable, we note that it represents a differentiated position from both walled garden retail networks (closed ad ecosystems run by giants like Amazon or Walmart Connect) and on-site commerce media players like Criteo, which focus primarily on ads within online retailer websites rather than physical stores.

Financial visibility remains low ahead of international rollout

Verve is now preparing to roll out the platform to additional markets, including the US. However, scaling a new network internationally will likely require continued investment and dedicated sales resources. With Verve's current need to improve liquidity management, deleverage the balance sheet, and demonstrate stronger cash conversion following a challenging 2025, we are hesitant to model significant near-term financial upside from this initiative until tangible revenue contributions materialize.

We also believe the company's decision to keep its 2026 guidance unchanged at 680-730 MEUR in revenue and 145-175 MEUR in adjusted EBITDA reflects appropriate conservatism. The June 16 Capital Markets Day in New York becomes the relevant next event in our view, where we hope to learn more about the details on the unit economics, international retailer pipeline, campaign volume KPIs, and a clearer framing of how retail media fits alongside Verve's existing mobile in-app and CTV (Connected TV) business. Until then, we believe the burden of proof remains firmly on execution and the company's ability to convert these strategic milestones into measurable cash flows.