Mobile ad company AppLovin is being acquired by Chinese private equity investment firm Orient Hontai Capital for $1.4 billion.

“We believe this partnership will provide us with even more resources to continue to improve and accelerate everything we’ve built thus far,” said CEO and co-founder Adam Foroughi (pictured), describing the deal as “the most sizeable outcome for a mobile advertising company ever.”

He explained that Orient Hontai was chosen because of its strong connections in the Chinese market: “Our goals are perfectly aligned, and we share a commitment to scale globally and to continue the highest standards of operation.”

“The AppLovin team is excited to begin this next phase and expand reach into new geographic regions,” he added.

He also said that initially the US-based start-up, which generated $234 million revenue last year, had trouble raising capital but kept its focus on building a business that could grow on its own and sustain itself.

“Advertisers are now tracking to spend nearly half a billion dollars in 2016 on the AppLovin platform,” the firm said in a statement.

The company will keep its corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and retain its global team of around 100 employees.

News of a buyout first surfaced last month. There has been some notable activity in ad tech in China in particular over the past year. Cheetah Mobile acquired ad company MobPartner in March last year, while a group of Chinese internet companies tried to buy Opera, including its ad platform, before settling on buying its browser business alone.