Constellation, a Canadian company that grows through acquisitions, has acquired Tune to consolidate the performance marketing space.

Cake was the first acquisition in the performance marketing space for Constellation, which was acquired in June 2019. Tune now becomes the second acquisition.

Both companies will make up the operating group Perseus. The combined companies will become formidable rivals to Partnerize, Impact and others in the space.

Santi Pierini, GM of performance marketing at Perseus/Constellation, which has a market cap of more than $32 billion, said having a large company with deep pockets able to fund other acquisition will enable the operating group to continue to consolidate the industry.

“In the middle of COVID we were able to get the deal done and start consolidating the market,” he said. “The industry has a lot of total addressable market that’s left unserved and we believe investing in this space will allow us to grow and thrive.”

Pierini, who led the acquisition, called the move during COVID-19 “challenging.” There is typically a step where the acquiring management team goes on site to meet others and conduct interviews, and in this case everything had to be done via video conferencing.

Being remote and international paid off. “We have offices in India and London, and they have offices in Germany, India and the United States,” he said.

Pierini said the group from the Cake acquisition will remain focused on the affiliate network and Tune will focus on brand advertisers. The companies will lead with their strength without competing with each other.

The company did restructure as part of the acquisition. Pierini said Peter Hamilton, Tune CEO, will take an advisory strategic role, not on a daily basis. Cameron Stuart, COO, will become the GM of Tune.