Marketing & Advertising Acquisitions in 2019

FASTSIGNS International, Inc. acquired Sign Me Up Signs & Advertising and will convert its seven locations (six on Long Island and one in New Jersey) plus a corporate office/production center to FASTSIGNS centers by February 2020. The deal expands FASTSIGNS' presence on Long Island to eight locations and Sign Me Up co-founder Bryan Schwartz will join FASTSIGNS as a franchisee.

Bloom Intelligence, a St. Petersburg-based provider of omni-channel WiFi marketing and customer intelligence solutions, has acquired Gazella WiFi, an Omaha-based white-label WiFi marketing and analytics platform for digital agencies. The acquisition expands Bloom Intelligence's WiFi marketing capabilities and global reach; financial terms were not disclosed.

Providence Equity Partners agreed to make a €200 million majority investment in Smartly.io, a Helsinki-based digital advertising and creative automation platform. The Smartly.io founders will continue to lead the company and retain significant ownership while Providence partners with management to accelerate growth through organic investment and acquisitions and to expand the company's global and U.S. presence.

France-based ad server and supply-side platform Smart Adserver has acquired demand-side platform LiquidM in an all-cash deal; financial terms were not disclosed. LiquidM, a Berlin-founded DSP with about 23 employees and on track for roughly €10 million in gross revenue this year, will give Smart Adserver buy-side visibility and enable full log-level detail across the ad stack. The acquisition is intended to bring buy- and sell-side capabilities closer together and strengthen Smart Adserver's product offering in programmatic advertising.

ForwardPMX, a Stagwell Group company, has acquired digital marketing firm The Search Agency. The acquisition expands ForwardPMX’s global capabilities and scale—bringing the combined group to more than 25 offices and over 1,000 marketing experts while integrating The Search Agency’s ~200 digital specialists and expertise in paid search, SEO and content.

Advice Media, a digital marketing and software provider for medical and dental practices, has acquired Page 1 Solutions, a Lakewood, Colorado-based digital marketing firm serving attorneys and healthcare providers. Tree Line Capital Partners provided financing for the transaction through an increase to Advice Media's term loan and an incremental equity co-investment; financial terms were not disclosed.

Los Angeles-based Shamrock Capital made a minority investment in Ad Results Media, a leading audio and podcast advertising agency, to support the company's technology and service expansion. The capital will be used to grow production capabilities, proprietary data and analytics, and advertising technology to scale podcast and audio advertising services.

Los Angeles-based marketing consultancy Hawke Media has acquired Artemis Digital Media to add affiliate management and influencer partnership capabilities to its service offering. Founder Marc Rona joins Hawke Media to lead a new Affiliate division, integrating Artemis' proprietary tracking platform and client roster into Hawke's a-la-carte marketing services.

MSouth Equity Partners, an Atlanta-based private equity firm, has acquired Nth Degree, a leading provider of exhibit management and event services. Gladstone Investment Corporation sold its majority stake while retaining a minority equity interest; MSouth will partner with Nth Degree's management to expand services, capacity and technology to support global event marketing growth.

Sprinklr has acquired the social advertising business of Nanigans, integrating Nanigans’ ad management, predictive analytics, optimization, and reporting capabilities into Sprinklr Marketing. Nanigans will retain its incrementality business while many former Nanigans employees join Sprinklr to bolster the company’s performance and brand social advertising offerings.

EducationDynamics acquired key agency-of-record assets and portions of the inquiry generation business of Thruline Marketing, including call center operations in Lenexa, Kansas and Tampa, Florida. The deal expands EducationDynamics' marketing services and contact center capabilities to better serve higher education partners and strengthens its Enrollment Management Services division.

Mid-market private equity firm LDC has made a £30 million minority growth investment in digital marketing agency Croud. The funding will support Croud's international expansion and further development of its proprietary SaaS platform Serpico and tech-enabled service capabilities.

Vision Integrated Graphics Group, a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, has acquired SourceLink from an affiliate of Aterian Investment Partners. The deal combines Vision's direct-marketing scale with SourceLink's data analytics and digital capabilities (including Path Interactive) to create a scaled omni-channel marketing services provider; terms were not disclosed.

Fernhill Corporation (OTC: FERN) announced the acquisition of Numuni, Inc., an ad-free, crypto-mining–based marketing/adtech platform led by CEO Robert Reynolds. The deal adds Numuni's privacy-friendly monetization technology to Fernhill's fintech and digital-asset software portfolio as the company intends to integrate and develop the offering for publishers, advertisers and consumer platforms.

HomeServe PLC agreed to acquire a majority stake in Conshohocken-based eLocal USA LLC, a pay-for-performance advertising and lead-generation platform, to form the foundation of its Home Expert business in the United States. eLocal—backed previously by LLR Partners and employing roughly 130 people—will remain led by founders Andrew and Bruce Aronow and will operate separately from HomeServe’s Membership and HVAC businesses.

Allegiance Fundraising Group, a portfolio company of 424 Capital, has acquired Beaconfire RED, an Arlington, Virginia–based digital marketing agency serving U.S. nonprofit organizations. The acquisition expands Allegiance's digital fundraising and advocacy capabilities — adding digital strategy, social media, digital media, UX/visual design, and web and mobile development to its offerings. The transaction is an add-on to Allegiance's platform backed by 424 Capital.

Dutch digital agency We are you has brought digital agency DearNova into its organization. The deal adds DearNova’s ~70 professionals and technological execution capabilities to We are you’s team of ~450 digital specialists to increase scale, flexibility and expertise in strategy and technology.

The North Alliance (NoA), majority owned by private equity firm Norvestor, has agreed to acquire Norwegian data-driven digital agency Proletar. The deal expands NoA's capabilities in performance and data-driven marketing across the Nordics; financial terms were not disclosed.

LRW Group, an analytics-powered marketing services company and portfolio company of Tailwind Capital, has acquired Austin-based digital marketing agency T3. The 200+-employee agency will join LRW's Action Division and operate under LRW while continuing to serve its existing clients; the deal is an add-on to LRW's platform owned by Tailwind Capital.

Seismic, the San Diego–based sales enablement platform, has acquired Percolate, a New York–based marketing campaign orchestration and content management platform. The deal combines Seismic's sales enablement and asset management capabilities with Percolate's content orchestration tools to provide marketers enterprise-scale content production, planning and distribution.

Rockbridge Growth Equity, a Detroit-based private equity firm, has acquired ProSites, Inc., a provider of online marketing solutions for dental, medical, financial and accounting practices, from The Riverside Company. ProSites serves more than 14,000 clients with website design/hosting, reputation management, SEO, PPC and practice communication software; Rockbridge plans to accelerate growth, expand services and pursue add-on acquisitions.

Falcon.io, the social media management division of Cision, has acquired Unmetric to integrate Unmetric’s social benchmarking and historical content performance insights into Falcon.io’s social media marketing platform. The acquisition is intended to expand Falcon.io’s analytics and benchmarking capabilities and provide a unified social content, engagement and insights offering to brands and agencies.

Power Digital Marketing acquired Factorial Digital, a growth marketing and SEO agency with offices in New York and South Carolina, and will fully integrate Factorial’s team and services into its platform. The deal expands Power Digital’s SEO and growth marketing capabilities, deepens its East Coast presence, and follows Power Digital’s January 2019 investment from Periscope Equity that supports strategic add-on acquisitions.

TMP Worldwide has acquired London-based social media firm Carve to expand its social capabilities and integrate Carve's analytics and social strategy offerings with TMP's TalentBrew recruitment marketing platform. Carve will continue to operate under CEO Paul Harrison and leverage TMP's global network to scale its services.

Boathouse Capital completed a growth investment in Splashlight (via its holding company LiiV), providing capital that enabled LiiV to acquire Telmar, a 51-year-old media insights and planning company with ~25,000 users. The combination of Splashlight's visual content capabilities and Telmar's audience and media-planning analytics is intended to create a new "creative intelligence" offering for marketers and agencies.

TMP Worldwide, a Gemspring Capital-backed talent acquisition technology company, acquired Maximum, a Netherlands-based recruitment marketing technology firm, to enhance its technology and product marketing capabilities and strengthen its European presence. Maximum will continue to operate under its current leadership (Managing Director Mark van Buuren) as a TMP Worldwide company.

Detroit-based private equity firm Rockbridge Growth Equity announced an investment in White Glove, a seminar marketing, social media management and seminar-planning services provider for financial, insurance, legal and real estate professionals. The deal (closed October 1, 2019) will support White Glove's growth and expansion of service offerings across North America; White Glove is a 115+ person company that has delivered more than 10,000 seminars.

LRW Group, a Tailwind Capital‑backed, analytics-powered marketing services company, acquired Salt Branding, a San Francisco-based brand consultancy. The add-on expands LRW Group's creative and brand strategy capabilities; Salt founders will remain involved with Paul Parkin continuing as creative director.

LRW Group, a Tailwind Capital portfolio company, has acquired Karma Agency, a Philadelphia-based strategic communications and brand management firm. The deal is LRW Group’s eighth add-on since Tailwind’s 2015 investment and is intended to expand LRW’s capabilities in PR, brand strategy and digital communications.

Capital A (formerly ABN AMRO Participaties) has acquired a majority stake in Dutch digital marketing agency Smart IM. The investment will support Smart IM's growth ambitions and a buy-and-build strategy via the newly formed Avalanche Digital Group, with Smart IM keeping founder/co-shareholders and roughly 50 employees.

Private equity funds managed by Blackstone completed the acquisition of Vungle, a San Francisco–based performance marketing platform for in-app video advertisements. Blackstone said the buy will support Vungle's growth and help expand its platform capabilities and market reach to better serve advertisers and app publishers.

Ruder Finn has acquired SPI Group, a Fairfield, New Jersey-based corporate communications agency that specializes in employee/internal communications, digital storytelling and web/application development. The acquisition adds SPI Group's ~30 employees to Ruder Finn and strengthens Ruder Finn’s internal communications, technical capabilities and healthcare communications offerings.

Zeta Global has acquired certain programmatic business operations from IgnitionOne, including sales and client-management teams in the United States and Brazil. The deal brings programmatic technology, clients and personnel into Zeta’s programmatic division to expand its DSP, data assets and managed programmatic services.

VisionPoint Marketing, a Raleigh-based integrated marketing agency serving colleges and universities, completed a recapitalization with Capitala Group and Cascadily. The transaction provides liquidity and strategic capital to support the company's growth and operations; Berkery Noyes served as VisionPoint's exclusive financial advisor.

Opus Agency, a PE‑backed global event marketing firm, has acquired London‑based event and travel management agency Number 20, Ltd. The acquisition establishes Opus’s first office outside the U.S. and is intended to formalize and expand the agency’s presence across the UK and EMEA.

Opus Agency has acquired Tencue Productions, an award-winning creative and communications agency focused on in-person and online event production. Tencue, headquartered in Berkeley, California, will operate as "Tencue, an Opus Company," with Tencue COO Miriam Agrell joining Opus' leadership team; the deal expands Opus' experiential production capabilities and resources.

LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, has acquired Instinctif Partners, a London-headquartered strategic communications consultancy, providing an exit for previous backer Vitruvian Partners. The investment will support Instinctif's international growth, recruitment and digital capability development across its integrated corporate, financial, public policy and crisis communications services.

Bazaarvoice, a Marlin Equity Partners portfolio company, has acquired Influenster, a product discovery and reviews platform with a community of nearly six million members. The deal merges Influenster's consumer-driven content and sampling capabilities with Bazaarvoice's global UGC and retail network to expand product review coverage and capabilities for brands and retailers.

Opus Agency, a Beaverton-based experiential marketing firm and portfolio company of Growth Catalyst Partners, has acquired Clarity Creative, a boutique content design and visual-communication studio founded in 2002. The acquisition is intended to deepen Opus's creative capabilities—adding content development, keynote and dynamic video production, animation and strategic storytelling to its event and experiential offerings.

LDC-backed Fishawack Group has acquired US-based healthcare communications agency 2e Creative for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition expands Fishawack’s US footprint and broadens its creative and medical communications capabilities as part of a continued buy-and-build strategy supported by investor LDC.

Wpromote acquired Growth Pilots, a San Francisco-based paid media marketing agency, in a deal that closed August 1, 2019. The acquisition expands Wpromote’s paid-media capabilities and West Coast presence and increases the combined team to nearly 450 employees.

Los Angeles-based Berggruen Holdings and San Francisco-based Sleeping Bear Capital announced a strategic majority investment in Phenomenon, a Los Angeles-based business transformation and brand agency. The investors plan to use Phenomenon as a platform for add-on acquisitions to expand capabilities in social marketing, AI-based marketing tools, and strategic media planning.

Hero Digital acquired Bulldog Solutions, an Austin-based B2B marketing services agency, to centralize and expand its B2B customer experience capabilities in Austin. The deal, supported by Hero Digital's investor CI Capital, will combine Bulldog's team and leadership into Hero Digital's broader CX practice to deepen B2B expertise for enterprise clients.

Gauge Capital has partnered with the owners and management of Schlesinger Global, LLC to recapitalize the market research firm. The investment will support Schlesinger's growth, expansion of capabilities, innovation and talent acquisition while Gauge partners join the company's board.

MULTIPLY, a data-driven social and public relations agency, has acquired UMBRLA, a full-service social content firm known for strong Instagram capabilities. Clare Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor; UMBRLA’s operations will move into MULTIPLY’s Denver office as MULTIPLY expands its New York and Denver teams.

Marlin Equity Partners has completed the acquisition of Clarus Commerce, a provider of premium subscription loyalty programs and a technology platform for retailers. The transaction was made alongside Clarus management with minority investment from Norwest Venture Partners; Marlin said it will support product investment, partnerships and accelerated growth.

LRW Group, a Tailwind Capital portfolio company, has acquired Greenberg Strategy, a Bay Area consultancy specializing in custom qualitative and quantitative research and brand/communications strategy. The deal — LRW's seventh add-on since Tailwind's 2015 investment — will keep founder Andrew Greenberg in place as CEO of the Emeryville-based operation and is intended to deepen LRW's Bay Area platform and analytics-powered marketing services capabilities.

Welocalize has acquired SearchStar, a Bath-based digital media buying and analytics agency, to deepen its digital marketing performance capabilities, including paid search, programmatic media buying, and analytics. The acquisition integrates SearchStar with Welocalize’s multilingual content and data transformation platform to better serve clients running global, multilingual digital campaigns.

Xpressdocs Partners, Ltd., a Texas-based provider of tech-enabled direct marketing solutions and a Falcata Capital portfolio company, has acquired Amazingmail, an Arizona-based direct mail solutions provider. Amazingmail will operate as a 100% owned subsidiary in Phoenix with its current management team remaining in place; Woodbridge International served as exclusive financial advisor to Amazingmail.

Balance Point Capital provided debt and preferred equity to support Growth Catalyst Partners' investment in Trendline Interactive LLC, a full-service email marketing agency headquartered in Austin, Texas. The financing is intended to accelerate Trendline's growth and support its platform and buy-and-build strategy.