Spire Capital Partners invests in Vector Media

NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spire Capital, a New York based private equity firm specializing in investments in the media and communications, business services, information services and education sectors, today announced its investment in Vector Media ("Vector" or the "Company"). Vector Media is an innovative Out-of-Home ("OOH") media company, specializing in large-format transit advertising, traditional Out-of-Home media and interactive brand experiences. This marks the sixth investment in Spire's third fund. 

Vector Media, headquartered in New York, NY, provides its clients with impactful and meaningful brand interactions through its unique platform of double decker transit spectaculars, airport shuttles, custom-route vehicles, street furniture, taxi media, digital advertising, bulletins, building wraps, printed publications and its rapidly expanding experiential marketing division.

Vector's current national footprint includes over 16 of the most highly sought after U.S. DMAs, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami, Dallas, Boston, Houston, Washington DC, Austin, San Diego, San Antonio, Atlanta, and Las Vegas.   Additionally, Vector's network includes custom-route opportunities for Large Format Transit Spectaculars in nearly every city in the United States and Canada.

"Spire brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of successfully fueling rapid growth in the media sector," commented Bill Schwartz, Vector's founder and an industry veteran with over thirty years of experience in Out-of-Home media.

Andy Armstrong, one of Spire's general partners, will be Chairman of Vector's Board of Directors. Anthony Cassano, Principal at Spire Capital and Kerri McNicholas, Vice President at Spire Capital, will also join Vector's Board. The combined addition to the Board will support the Company's long term growth goals and competitive positioning as a diverse OOH company serving advertising agencies and brands at the national and local levels.

Chairman Andy Armstrong stated, "We are excited to partner with Founder Bill Schwartz and his team as they have built a unique OOH advertising platform with national scale that provides turnkey, one of a kind, large format spectacular campaigns for some of the best brands and agencies in the world."

"One of Vector's core strengths is its long standing relationships with supply side partners, advertising agencies and direct advertising clients. Spire's investment will allow the Company to expand its customer offerings by increasing its advertising footprint and growing its recently launched experiential marketing services," said Anthony Cassano of Spire Capital.

"In a world where the average person is bombarded by more than 5,000 messages a day, Vector Media's unique Out-of-Home media platform stands out in a way that is unparalleled," commented Mark Boidman, Managing Director at Peter J Solomon Company (PJSC).  "It's always on, and cannot be turned off or skipped, resulting in a media channel that is now an essential part of the marketing mix."   PJSC acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Vector, working closely with Vector's management team and shareholders throughout the investment process.  Marc Borzykowski, Chief Operating Officer of Vector, added, "PJSC's industry expertise enabled Boidman and his team to quickly identify Spire Capital as the best financial partner for us. We enjoyed working with the PJSC team and we are incredibly excited to be partnering with Spire on this next phase of Vector's growth."   

About Vector Media

Founded in 1998, Vector Media (www.vectormedia.com) is an innovative out-of-home media company, specializing in large-format transit advertising, traditional Out-of-Home media and interactive brand experiences.  The company's current inventory of over 20,000 Out-of-Home faces includes bulletins, street furniture and over 6,000 transit advertising faces, including double decker buses, airport shuttles, custom route coach vehicles, trolleys, jitneys and taxis.  Vector Media maintains the only double-decker advertising network in North America, which includes inventory in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, DC, Houston, Miami, San Diego, San Antonio, Phoenix, Austin and Dallas.  Vector's rapidly growing experiential division, VM2, integrates its out-of-home assets with dynamic brand experiences and its publishing arm produces two of the top travel and lifestyle magazines in New York.

About Spire Capital

Spire Capital (www.spirecapital.com) is an active and experienced private equity firm with an investment focus in small market companies within the media and communications, business services, information services and education sectors. Spire Capital was founded on the principle of partnering with management teams and founders to help effectuate the next stage of growth for their companies. Spire professionals have a broad array of past operating, investing and advisory experiences they leverage to help portfolio companies accelerate growth, guide strategic direction and execute their business plan.  Spire Capital is a New York-based investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150518/216723LOGO

SOURCE Spire Capital