Emi Gal, one of the most successful young Romanian tech entrepreneurs, has sold Branient, an interactive video ad startup he founded in 2009, to American group Teads, which runs one of the biggest video advertising marketplaces in the world.

Brainient is focused on increasing the engagement and performance of online video ads by making them more personalized and interactive. The company works with television stations in some 12 countries, including Germany, France, and UK.

Teads, which  recently raised USD 47 million worth of debt financing for new acquisitions, according to TechCrunch.

The value of the Brainient deal hasn’t been disclosed by either side. Emi Gal and Andrei Baragan, Brainient’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, were the company’s majority shareholders. They have reduced their stakes in the company. Brainient’s investors also took the opportunity to exit the company, according to TechCrunch.

Emi Gal and his management team will continue to run the company, which will be renamed Teads Studios. He will move from London, where Brainient has its headquarters, to New York and try to increase the company’s sales on the US market. He also plans to double the engineering team in Romania that is developing the platform.

“I once read that overnight success usually takes 15 years. For Andrei and myself, it took 10,” Emi Gal wrote in a blog post.

“From the small software development firm I started in my bedroom in Bucharest 10 years ago, to the pivot into building our own products and my move to London in 2009, we have grown into one of the leading ad-tech companies in Europe. We have built an amazing team that I am incredibly proud of and thankful for. And we have delivered thousands of campaigns for hundreds of customers all over Europe. It’s been an incredible journey and I am very excited about what the future has in store for myself and for the Brainient team.”

editor@romania-insider.com