Advertising automation company Rubicon Project has acquired ad tech companies iSocket and Shiny Ads, paying less than $30m (£19m) for the two companies, mostly in stock.

Rubicon Project has one of the industrys largest independent real-time trading platforms, and the acquisitions aim to expand its direct order automation technology and consolidate the automated guaranteed market.

The technology solutions added by the acquisition of iSocket and Shiny Ads will enable Rubicon to automate the buying and selling of direct-sold, guaranteed deals, a segment of the direct orders market that is set to be worth $8bn in the US alone by 2016.

“Automating guaranteed direct orders facilitates the buying and selling of the most premium, higher priced inventory directly between buyers and sellers, similar to how TV advertising is bought and sold today,” said Frank Addante, CEO, founder and chief product architect of Rubicon Project. “Consolidating the guaranteed direct orders market with these acquisitions, combined with our existing direct order technology and scale, solidifies our market leadership in this rapidly growing segment.”

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