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By James Van Straten, AI Boost|Edited by Sheldon Reback
Apr 29, 2025, 9:01 a.m.
- Eric Semler, the chairman of Semler Scientific, flagged Viant Technology as a company that could benefit from following his firm’s lead and stocking up on bitcoin.
- Viant holds $205 million in net cash, but has yet to deploy it meaningfully despite strong free cash flow and profitability.
- Semler sees bitcoin as a strategic pivot, urging Viant to follow the treasury path of Strategy and Semler Scientific to reignite investor interest.
Viant Technology (DSP), an ad tech company, could unlock significant shareholder value by adopting a bitcoin (BTC) treasury strategy according to Eric Semler, the chairman of Semler Scientific (SMLR), the scientific-equipment maker that also adopted a bitcoin-buying policy.
Viant joins Zoom Communications (ZOOM) and Coursera, Inc. (COUR) on Semler’s list of “Zombie Zone” companies that, he says, have untapped capital and an urgent need to rethink strategic direction. Neither of the previous two followed his advice.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
In a post on X, Semler highlighted Viant’s stock performance as a key indicator of investor skepticism toward the company’s long-term growth prospects. The shares are down 44% since the company’s 2021 IPO and slumped 50% in February alone.
Despite this, Viant maintains a strong financial foundation, including $205 million in net cash — about 25% of its $900 million market cap — and $34 million in free cash flow in 2024, with expectations for steady growth through 2028.
Viant faces intensifying competition from tech giants like Google and Amazon and the commoditization of demand-side platforms. Chris Vanderhook, one of the three brothers that founded the company, has publicly expressed enthusiasm for decentralized technologies, referencing crypto, blockchain, and NFTs as core to a “New Open Web” vision.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.
James Van Straten is a Senior Analyst at CoinDesk, specializing in Bitcoin and its interplay with the macroeconomic environment. Previously, James worked as a Research Analyst at Saidler & Co., a Swiss hedge fund, where he developed expertise in on-chain analytics. His work focuses on monitoring flows to analyze Bitcoin’s role within the broader financial system.
In addition to his professional endeavors, James serves as an advisor to Coinsilium, a UK publicly traded company, where he provides guidance on their Bitcoin treasury strategy. He also holds investments in Bitcoin, MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Semler Scientific (SMLR).
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk’s AI Policy.
