By Kyle Spurr, UM News Service

MISSOULA – Pathlabs, a Missoula-based digital media company run by University of Montana alumni, recently sold to MiQ, one of the largest programmatic media agencies in the world. 

The sale is one of the biggest for a startup in state history, providing Pathlabs with resources across the globe. Pathlabs will remain in the historic Florence Building in downtown Missoula and maintain its more than 100 employees, including nearly half who are UM alumni.

“The fact that you have a huge global company wanting to make that level of acquisition off a bunch of UM graduates is pretty cool,” said Mario Schulzke, chief operating officer at Pathlabs, a UM alumnus and an adjunct professor in UM’s College of Business. 

Pathlabs was founded in 2021 as an off-shoot of LumenAd, a software company for the advertising industry. Pathlabs became a profitable business catering to mid-market agencies serving a variety of industries such as retail, automotive, goverment and consumer packaged goods. 

Schulzke said the company wasn’t looking to sell but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join MiQ. The deal closed last month and is a win-win for both companies. MiQ wanted to secure the mid-sized market that Pathlabs specializes in, while Pathlabs gained more resources for its employees and customers. 

“We now have access to resources which were just unfathomable to us before,” Schulzke said. 

As an MiQ company, Pathlabs recently sent employees to Bengaluru, India for a technology competition and access to expert data scientists and engineers who can to solve nearly any technical problem. 

“We are part of a truly global, incredibly diverse organization,” Schulzke said, “and I think that’s a huge benefit for our people.” 

Will Lapointe, chief executive officer at Pathlabs and a former student of Schulzke’s, credits his company's success to this time in UM’s College of Business and the partnership that developed with the University. 

Lapointe, who grew up in Spokane, Washington, earned a bachelor's degree in business management in 2013 and returned in 2016 to pursue a master’s in business administration. As a graduate student, Lapointe took a class from Schulzke and sought out his mentorship. Schulzke encouraged him to join LumenAd, which was founded in 2014 by UM alumnus Ryan Hansen. 

Lapointe started as an account manager with LumenAd and worked his way up to vice president of media services. When Pathlabs split off from LumenAd, Lapointe became Pathlabs’ CEO. 

While leading Pathlabs, Lapointe helped create the YourPath program that sponsors a class in the College of Business called Digital Media Execution. Students in the class are encouraged to apply for an internship with Pathlabs, which can lead to a full-time position. 

“Our partnership with UM has given us a steady pipeline of quality, talented employees,” Lapointe said. “I personally think people from UM have grit. It’s a hard-working, blue-collar culture in a way. That’s what makes the difference is the culture and the DNA of the students who come out of there.” 

From afar, Pathlabs’ acquisition might look like an overnight success, but it took years of experimenting to find a successful business model, said Hansen. 

Hansen, who recently stepped down from Pathlabs after serving in an advisory role, said he admires the resilience of the employees, many from UM. 

“There were a lot of ups and downs and we totally grew up together figuring this out,” Hansen said. “It’s a cool outcome that speaks to the grit and optimism that comes out of students at UM.” 

UM is a huge part of Pathlabs’ story, said Hansen, who grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota and earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2009 and an MBA in 2016. He remembers the support he received from professors when he launched LumenAd. The University was even one of his first customers. 

The connection to UM continued with alumni leading Pathlabs and hiring dozens of students out of the College of Business. 

“From beginning to end, UM was a part of this story,” Hansen said. 

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Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM director of strategic communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu