Bruce Buchanan lost his mother to leukemia when he was in Year 10. He lived on a friend's floor for a year while finishing school and worked as a handyman from age 16. He later bought a CAD and CAM business from its owner, repaid him over two years, and used the exit to buy a house and fund an MBA at UNSW.
He went on to Jetstar and became its chief executive. He then met Justin Viles, whose company Rocklive ran live events in pubs and clubs and had moved into digital marketing. Buchanan bought it through a Singapore company, split the equity evenly with Viles and cut about 80% of the business to focus on ecommerce.
Rokt was founded in 2012 and renamed from Rocklive in 2013. Buchanan paid for the first year himself. Traction came about six months in, and a Series A arrived in late 2013. The Series B, around 2016, was the hardest round to raise. Most retailers were in the US, so he commuted for about two years, two weeks on and two weeks off, before moving his family.
Rokt bought OfferLogic in 2019 and became a unicorn in October 2020. Aftersell was acquired in 2024, and mParticle and Canal followed in 2025, the year of the $3.5 billion secondary sale.