Creatify, a US startup that uses AI to generate social media ads, has acquired Gala Labs, an Australian martech firm founded in 2024.

Gala Labs developed Peggy, a marketing assistant that helps users analyze Facebook ad performance and research competitors through Slack-based chat.

The Peggy tool allows marketers to ask questions and receive plain English responses, instead of relying on traditional dashboards.

The acquisition expands Creatify’s services from content creation to include marketing strategy and analytics.

Gala Labs founders Tanmay Jain and Jake Bloom, former executives at major tech firms, will assist with the transition before moving on.

Creatify raised US$15.5 million in a series A round two months ago, with investors including Kindred Ventures and WndrCo.

🔗 Source: SmartCompany

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ iOS14 privacy changes drove fundamental shift to content-first marketing strategies

The Gala Labs founders’ decision to focus on content testing analytics directly reflects how Apple’s iOS14 update reshaped digital marketing priorities across the industry.

When iOS14 required apps to request user permission for tracking, it severely limited advertisers’ ability to target users effectively1. Meta experienced its first revenue decline since going public as brands initially reduced ad spending on the platform2.

This forced marketers to pivot from relying on precise audience targeting to testing “large waves of content,” which Peggy was built to address through its Facebook ad performance analysis.

The strategy proved sound as Meta’s advertising business eventually stabilized. By 2023, Meta reported a 23% year-over-year revenue increase, partly due to improved advertising tools, while CPMs dropped significantly, making the platform more attractive again2.

The Gala Labs acquisition shows how startups that correctly identified this content-testing shift created valuable solutions that larger AI companies now want to integrate into comprehensive platforms.

2️⃣ Specialized martech tools increasingly get absorbed into comprehensive AI platforms

Creatify’s acquisition of Gala Labs follows a well-established pattern where marketing technology companies build comprehensive solutions by acquiring specialized point solutions.