Private equity firm Innovatus Capital Management has snapped up three mid-sized ad agencies in the past three months in what it says is a plan to take on big ad holding companies like Publicis and upstart agencies.

Innovatus just acquired Boulder-based Public Label and Toronto's Match Retail, whose clients include Danone, L'Oreal, Adidas, and Mars Wrigley, after acquiring Chicago-based design agency VSA Partners in January.

Innovatus founding partner David Schiff said he saw an opportunity to acquire ad agencies that were weakened by the pandemic.

Innovatus, which had $1.6 billion in assets in mid-2020 and previously invested in the real estate, construction, and life sciences industries, will continue buying marketing companies "with conviction," Schiff said.