Progress Partners
Boutique tech-focused investment bank and venture advisory firm.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Progress Partners, Inc.
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 2002
- Headquarters
- 10 Winthrop Square, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02110
- Company size
- 10–49
- Market role
- Other / Non-Digital Advertising Relevant
- Official website
- progresspartners.com
What Progress Partners does
The company creates value by combining sector expertise, buyer and investor relationships, and transaction execution capability to advise digital economy companies on M&A and capital formation. It monetises this advisory work through retained fees and transaction-linked success fees, while also participating in sector upside through affiliated venture funds that invest in relevant technology categories.
Category differentiation
This is a boutique investment bank and venture investing platform, not an adtech vendor or software product company. It advises and invests in digital economy businesses rather than selling advertising technology itself.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Progress Partners is a US-based boutique investment bank and advisory firm serving technology, media, advertising and related digital sectors. Its core business is advising companies on sell-side and buy-side M&A, capital raises and other strategic transactions, with a stated focus on mid-market deal sizes. The firm also operates affiliated sector-focused venture investment activity through Progress Ventures. The company makes money primarily from transaction advisory fees tied to M&A and financing engagements, and secondarily from investment returns associated with its venture funds. Its customers are founders, management teams, shareholders and private companies in B2B adtech, martech, media tech, data, measurement and adjacent software categories seeking liquidity, acquisitions, financing or strategic advice.
Business model & monetisation
Primary monetisation comes from service fees for investment banking mandates, including advisory retainers and deal completion fees on M&A and capital raise transactions. Additional monetisation comes from venture fund economics through Progress Ventures, including management fees and investment returns or carried interest tied to portfolio outcomes.
- M&A advisory mandates
- Retainers plus transaction success fees
- Capital raise advisory
- Service fees and financing completion fees
- Venture fund economics
- Management fees and investment returns
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
Ad Tech's Public Market Woes: Investment Banker Explains Small-Cap Problem
M&A · Recorded impact score: 4/5
At ExchangeWire's ATS London conference, investment banker Josh Wepman of Houlihan Lokey argued that the struggles of publicly-traded ad tech companies stem from their small market capitalizations, not performance. Most companies are too small to attract significant investment from index funds and mutual funds, with 'it's hard to be a $7 billion company' serving as a key quote. Deal activity has picked up to around $14 billion so far in 2026, but transactions are fewer and larger. Nick Macshane of Progress Partners noted extreme volatility in ad tech stocks, with some companies swinging 60% up or down, suggesting many should not be public. The article highlights take-private trends, mentioning Criteo's rumored buyout, and companies like DoubleVerify, LiveRamp, and Integral Ad Science moving off public markets. It also notes enterprise interest from Salesforce, Adobe, ServiceNow, Workday, Databricks, Snowflake, and OpenAI.
- Josh Wepman, MD at Houlihan Lokey, says public ad tech companies are too small for index/mutual funds to invest meaningfully.
- Public ad tech stocks have underperformed broader tech indices, with declining multiples through 2025-2026.
Explore company relationships
Questions about Progress Partners
What is Progress Partners?
Progress Partners is a US-based boutique investment bank and M&A advisory firm focused on technology, media, advertising and related software sectors.
Who uses Progress Partners?
Its clients are founders, boards, shareholders and management teams at mid-market private companies seeking M&A advice, capital raises or strategic transaction support.
How does Progress Partners make money?
It earns advisory retainers and transaction success fees from M&A and financing mandates, with additional economics from affiliated venture fund activity.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
11 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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