Sanja is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of S4S Ventures. Previously, she was the Global Head of Strategic Development & Partnerships at WPP, and oversaw a $B+ strategic partnership portfolio with the likes of Google, Meta, Adobe, Salesforce and Amazon.
Sanja is recognized for her ability to identify emerging trends in the industry and was instrumental in driving numerous WPP’s venture investments across martech, adtech and digital media sectors, including Gimlet (acquired by Spotify), SuperAwesome (acquired by Epic Games) and Within (acquired by Meta).
Sanja holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she serves as a Lecturer in the Media & Technology program. She came to the United States through a refugee asylum program and is passionate about human rights; she serves as a Co-Chair of Human Rights First.
We’re on a mission to fuel disruptive companies building at the intersection of media, marketing and technology.
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We believe today’s catalysts—technological, regulatory, and demographic—create fertile ground for the rise of a new cohort of companies with the ability to transform these sectors, yet again.
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S4S Ventures benefits from the support of S4 Capital and its operating arm - Monks, the global content, data and media powerhouse founded by Sir Martin Sorrell. The company has well over 8,000 people in 33 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Its clients include Meta, Google, BMW, Amazon and Epic Games, among others.
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And Stanhope Capital Group, the global investment firm with $40 billion under management, founded and led by Daniel Pinto.
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S4S invests in and cultivates early-stage technology companies riding the next wave of digital transformation across the marketing and media value chain.
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Our difference
We are not generalists. We bring unparalleled insight into forces transforming the marketing and media value chain.
We offer domain expertise and guidance based on decades of experience gained on the front lines as industry-shaping founders/CEOs, operators, and investors.
And our 8,000-person-strong internal network of S4 Capital/Monks professionals with expertise across data technology, adtech, martech, creative technology, digital media & content development gives our portfolio companies a leg up in validating ideas, launching products, and accelerating adoption with customers and partners.
Who we are
We’re founders/CEOs, operators, and investors who understand the nuances of the industry’s changing dynamics. We represent a rare combination of domain, entrepreneurial and investment expertise.
Sir Martin is a Co-Founder of S4S Ventures and Executive Chairman and Founder of S4 Capital. Sir Martin was Founder and CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a £1 million ‘shell’ company in 1985 into the world’s largest advertising and marketing services company. When Sir Martin left in April 2018, WPP had a market capitalisation of over £16 billion and revenues of over £15 billion.
Sir Martin supports a number of leading business schools and universities, including his alma maters, Harvard Business School and Cambridge University, and a number of charities, including his family foundation. He has been nominated as one of the TIME 100: The Most Influential People and received the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award.
Daniel Pinto is a Co-Founder of S4S Ventures, and Chairman and CEO of Stanhope Capital Group which he founded in 2004. The group currently oversees more than $ 40 billion for private clients, endowments, charities and other institutions across the globe.
A recognised leader in Wealth Management, Private Investments, and Merchant Banking, Stanhope Capital Group has grown organically and through acquisitions. Stanhope Capital Group employs 160 people in 8 offices across Europe and the US.
What we believe
The marketing, advertising, and media industries are on the cusp of significant change, yet again.
Today’s disruptive catalysts—a stricter privacy and regulatory environment for tech giants, the application of AI to media and content development, and the rise of Gen Z —are powerful and time-sensitive drivers of opportunity.
Tomorrow’s marketing leaders are being incubated today.
What excites us
One word: change.
We are focused on early stage companies poised to disrupt the marketing and media ecosystem.
If you’re an early-stage company and are building innovative solutions in our focus areas—data platforms, adtech, martech, creative technology, digital media & content—we want to hear from you. If you are a later-stage company, and we can accelerate your growth trajectory through our operational alignment with S4 Capital and Monks —we want to hear from you.
We are proud to partner with S4S Ventures and benefit from the support of the S4 Capital group. Marketers are the missing link to fully propel the industry into a cookieless, consented, data-driven advertising future and we need to bring them onboard. S4S Ventures is the 'smart money' choice for ID5 to successfully address this challenge.
It’s been fantastic to partner with S4S - they understood the value creation opportunity and size of the prize for Provenance immediately. Their deep domain knowledge and experience has been and will be invaluable to us - from feedback on how our data proposition can evolve in advertising and marketing tech, to forging relationships with top tier clients and unlocking access to a powerful global network - we’re excited to have S4S Ventures onboard.
After building a relationship with the S4S team for over the last year, we are excited to partner with S4S Ventures to help us scale the tvScientific business. S4S Ventures are tremendous thought partners and have superior knowledge of the advertising technology + media space. More broadly, the S4S team, including S4 Capital's Sir Martin Sorrell and agency, Monks, sit at the nexus of brand advertising, performance advertising, and AI tools - each are critical to imagining how we can transform television advertising. We are very close to the day when television advertising is democratized and precision targeting and outcome based measurement is the rule rather than the exception--we couldn't be happier to be partnered with S4S to make this happen.
We chose S4S Ventures because they offer much more than just growth capital, including a distinct and like-minded lens on the role that data-first strategies are playing to transform the world's largest consumer brands. Backed by Sir Martin Sorrell and working alongside the 8k-strong Monks marketing, advertising and technology services company, S4S provides unique perspective and access to C-suite market insights and opportunities. Sanja Partalo is a fantastic addition to our board, bringing the combination of investing savvy along with deep operating domain experience in marketing technology. We're thrilled to be partnered with Sanja and the S4S Ventures team!
From the moment I was introduced to Sanja, I knew she was different. Her combination of industry experience and breadth of knowledge made her a perfect fit as a board member. S4S has been a true partner, instrumental to helping us grow and evolve.
Sanja has unlocked multiple opportunities for Tracer while also providing valuable strategic guidance. The S4S Ventures investment is far from just monetary—Sanja and team invest the time and resources needed to ensure our growth as a company.
We feel so fortunate to work with Sanja and the S4S team as they truly embody the notion of serving as more than investors, they are part of our team, and our family. The firm is fully aligned to our values, with a focus on the HOW and the WHO in equal parts to the WHAT.
Partnering with S4S Ventures has truly transformed our trajectory at 4screen. Sanja's strategic acumen, combined with their team's deep domain expertise, has been pivotal in propelling our success. Their mentorship-like guidance surpasses conventional funding, providing us with an unparalleled level of industry insight and support.
Choosing S4S Ventures was a game changer for us! Sanja's strategic guidance, coupled with the team's expertise, is instrumental to 4screen‘s success. It's like having industry mentors in our corner, offering a level of expertise that goes beyond traditional funding relationships.
S4S' expertise in martech & adtech is second to none, and their systems to provide hands-on commercial support for their founders made it so clear to us that they were the partner we wanted to have onboard.
Our value add
We offer truly differentiated value to our portfolio companies.
Many say so, very few actually do. We can deliver in spades.
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Industry
ExpertiseOur team's expertise and global S4 Capital and Monks network provides invaluable insights and guidance on product roadmap, go-to-market strategy, pricing, and competitive analysis. Gain access to a unique advisory team and a focus group like no other!
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Growth
CatalystWe aim to be early adopters and showcase the impact of companies we are investing in—globally, and at scale. Our portfolio companies benefit from access to Monks’ clients such as Google, Amazon, BMW, Netflix, Burberry, HP, and Meta - and from our presence at industry events, such as Cannes and CES.
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Strategic Partnerships
& NetworkOur portfolio can tap into our long-term relationships with the largest advertising and technology companies globally. We have the right connectivity to help bring about optimal opportunities—whether our portfolio companies require strategic partnership or corporate venture partners.
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Martin Sorrell-backed S4S Ventures, Bertelsmann invest $10M in data asset management outfit, as it blends new content, analytics-based marketing for clients
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Obele Brown-West named President of Tracer, company announces oversubscribed series A round
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4screen raises €21 million in its Series A led by S4S Ventures and Continental VC to scale globally
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Why Martin Sorrell is investing in CTV buying platform tvScientific