Adtech company IgnitionOne further cuts headcount as two more clients report unpaid bills

• Adtech firm IgnitionOne has shed at least 19 more employees after a smaller round of layoffs last week, Business Insider confirmed.
• IgnitionOne faces allegations from its former investment firm of $590,000 in unpaid bills, according to a civil complaint. Separately, two adtech companies alleged that IgnitionOne owes them money.
• IgnitionOne declined to comment for this story.
• The layoffs are another example of how adtech companies have struggled to pivot into new businesses, particularly ones that specialize in media buying.
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Adtech firm IgnitionOne has shed at least 19 more employees after laying off less than 10 employees this past week, including senior salespeople, sources told Business Insider.

The cuts come after martech company Zeta Global acquired IgnitionOne's demand-side platform in September and some of its small and mid-size accounts. About 15 IgnitionOne employees joined Zeta Global at the time.

Three companies alleged that IgnitionOne owes them money.

One is Progress Partners, an investment firm. On October 25, Progress Partners filed a complaint in Massachusetts District alleging that IgnitionOne owes Progress Partners more than $590,000 in damages plus attorney's fees, interest and other costs related to its work that led to the Zeta Global deal.

IgnitionOne declined to comment for this story.

Two clients alleged IgnitionOne owes them money

IgnitionOne buys ad space from publishers, which in turn use other adtech companies to handle the selling. Two such adtech companies told Business Insider that IgnitionOne owes them money.

A source at one of the adtech companies said it's owed more than $1 million in ad inventory, leading the adtech company to cut off ad spend managed by IgnitionOne in the past month.

The layoffs are another example of how adtech companies have struggled to pivot into new businesses, particularly ones that specialize in media buying.

The adtech company source compared the sell-off of IgnitionOne to Sizmek, another adtech company that was sold off in parts to Zeta Global, Amazon and Peer39 and then filed for bankruptcy in March, after which it owed a handful of adtech companies millions.

"It's a Sizmek redux," said the source. "People are going to be left with unpaid bills."

In addition to selling advertisers its DSP technology, IgnitionOne also runs a customer data platform, or CDP, that helps companies like hotels and automotive brands personalize digital ads.

Some of the IgnitionOne employees who are leaving are being absorbed by Publicis Media, a key client of IgnitionOne, according to a source close to the deal. Based on LinkedIn data, at least nine IgnitionOne employees have changed their job titles to say they now work at Zeta Global.

Do you work at IgnitionOne or know something interesting about the company? Email me at ljohnson@businessinsider.com or contact me on Confide or Signal at 720-261-0417.