Balance Point Announces Follow-On Investment in Shift Paradigm

admin December 6, 2022

Westport, CT, December 6, 2022 – Balance Point Capital Advisors, LLC (“Balance Point”), in conjunction with its affiliated fund Balance Point Capital Partners II, L.P, is pleased to announce a follow-on investment in Shift Paradigm (the “Company”). Balance Point invested debt capital in support of Shift Paradigm’s acquisition of Ergo, a world-class email marketing company based in New York City. Growth Catalyst Partners (“GCP”), a middle market private equity firm and majority owner of Shift Paradigm, led the transaction. The combination deepens the Company’s email and customer journey capabilities, supporting Shift Paradigm’s mission of accelerating value creation through digital transformations that shift how companies grow and engage with customers.

“The Ergo transaction meaningfully expands our talented team and expertise in channel, campaign and customer engagement, AI and digital transformation,” said Liz Ross, CEO of Shift Paradigm. “Our growing platform is able to provide enhanced best-in-class services to our clients while continuing our promise to deliver innovative and transformative digital strategies with exceptional execution. Balance Point’s support and shared vision was instrumental to completing this transaction and driving our continued growth trajectory.”

Ergo, founded in 2004 and based in New York, NY, is a leading provider of innovative tools to help businesses connect with their customers. Ergo makes advanced personalization at scale simple, right inside its customer’s ESPs. Marketers can now leverage a myriad of data to auto-generate millions of individual HTML-based dynamic content email modules for a truly personalized 1:1 CX.

Justin Kaplan, Partner at Balance Point said, “We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Shift Paradigm and GCP teams, and we’re excited to welcome the Ergo team to the platform. The combination of these two businesses adds to the momentum that Liz and her team have built in the business. We are very enthusiastic about the outlook for Shift Paradigm heading into 2023.”

About Shift Paradigm

Shift Paradigm unleashes the power of insights, enabled by data fluidity and creative go-to-market strategies to accelerate revenue and drive market growth. With 200+ employees in North America, Shift Paradigm is aligning sales and marketing in organizations around the world, digitally transforming customer experiences in the B2B and B2C spaces. For more information, please visit https://www.shiftparadigm.com.

About Balance Point

Balance Point is an alternative investment manager focused on the lower middle market. With approximately $1.7 billion in assets under management, Balance Point invests debt and equity capital in select lower middle market companies across a variety of investment vehicles. Balance Point takes a long-term, partnership approach to investing and is committed to building lasting relationships with its partners, management teams and intermediaries. Balance Point is a registered investment adviser. Further information is available at www.balancepointcapital.com.

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Tags: Marketing

Occto raises €4.6 million to fast forward the way companies create relevant customer experiences

admin November 24, 2022

Industrifonden invested in Occto already in January 2021 and today we are happy to announce our continued support and investment in the company. This €4.6 million round was led by Amsterdam based Newion, with continued participation from Munich based 42CAP and Industrifonden.

Occto is an Experience Data Platform built to fast forward the way companies create relevant customer experiences, everywhere. With Occtoo the user can easily unify all experience data such as customer, product, transactional, behavioral and content – and make it accessible in real time in any frontend of choice. Occto was founded in 2019 and their solution has become especially popular among upper mid-market and enterprise sized retailers with a need to support their omnichannel sales strategy such as Cartier, Intersport and Nordic Nest. The new funding will be used to accelerate expansion, grow the partner network and product development.

Niclas Mollin, CEO & Co-founder, Occtoo, said: “The relevance of our product is even stronger in this unstable market, companies need to focus on creating a relevant customer experience using the resources they already have and with less risk. We help them do that.”

Tomas Bie, Investment Director, Industrifonden, said: ”We are especially impressed by the fact that Occtoo can implement a new digital experience for a digital marketing department in days, whereas it today can take months to get hold of the data needed. We’ve been following Occto for a couple of years now and can see that the customers are adapting their platform beyond expectation. We are happy to continue supporting the team on their mission to create relevant customer experiences.”

Read more in Breakit (Swedish) and EU-Startups.

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Tags: Information technology Marketing

Ufenau VII invests in Market Research and Analytics specialist Marktest

admin October 31, 2022

Dear Investors, Pfaeffikon SZ, October 2022

Partners and Friends of Ufenau Capital Partners,
We are delighted to announce that Ufenau VII has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Marktest (“Marktest”, “Group”). The Group is a leading tech-enabled market research and analytics solutions specialist with relevant international presence. Completion of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions that are expected to be fulfiled until 31 January 2023.

With an experience of +40 years and +300 professionals, Marktest is the leading independent market research player in Portugal. The Group has an outstanding track record supporting media channels, agencies, and advertisers to capture relevant data and turn it into actionable insights. Marktest is the reference data provider on advertising expenditure in Portugal, and has an unrivaled know-how on research studies, which has led to the development of proprietary high-end media planning, business intelligence and analytics tools. The Group has already developed a relevant international presence in marketing analytics, with its tools becoming a standard across several countries.

With the support of Ufenau, the objective of Marktest is to grow consolidating a group of leading specialists in the field of market research and analytics in Europe with profound sector-specific expertise coupled with cutting edge data visualization and analytics capabilities. The strategic acquisitions will reinforce the Group’s market position broadening its service offering and specific know-how as well as expanding its geographical reach.

The Founders of Marktest will continue to lead the business into its next growth phase and will significantly co-invest alongside Ufenau. Together, Marktest’s team and Ufenau will ensure the continuation of the successful growth strategy.
José Manuel Oliveira, the CEO of Marktest, said “Strongly positioned in Portugal and operating in +30 countries, Marktest is highly experienced in market and media research as well as in developing hardware and software. Our outstanding team is permanently ready to develop and provide new solutions of the upmost quality and accuracy for our clients and partners. Now we are commencing a new phase in which we look forward to materializing valuable synergies alongside Ufenau, embracing new markets, solidifying our international position and continuing to guarantee dedication, quality and rigor as we have done to date.”

Ralf Flore, Managing Partner at Ufenau, considers that “Marktest has proven its ability to be at the forefront of market research in simbiosis with a powerful data analytics software highly valued in the market. Ufenau is delighted to support the Group in its next growth phase, increasing its presence in the international market through strategic acquisitions that will complement its already well-established capacities and service offering.”
Your Ufenau Team

About Ufenau Capital Partners
Ufenau Capital Partners is a privately-owned Swiss Investor Group headquartered at Lake Zurich which advises private and institutional investors with their investments in private equity. Ufenau Capital Partners is focused on investments in service companies in German-speaking Europe, Iberia and the Benelux region and invests in Education & Lifestyle, Business Services, Healthcare, IT Services and Financial Services sectors. Since 2011, Ufenau invested in 270 service companies in Europe. Through a renowned group of experienced Industry Partners (owners, CEOs, CFOs), Ufenau has an active value-adding investment approach at eye-level with entrepreneurs and managers. Ufenau raised its seventh flagship fund and its third Continuation Vehicle earlier this year with a volume of EUR 1.6bn and advises capital of EUR 2.5bn.
Ufenau VII invests in Market Research and Analytics specialist Marktest

Ufenau Capital Partners AG Huobstrasse 3 CH-8808 Pfäffikon, Schwyz
www.ucp.ch
Tel: + 41 44 482 66 66 Fax: + 41 44 482 66 63 info@ucp.ch

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Tags: Marketing

Adelis backs Avidly in its growth journey

admin September 30, 2022

Adelis becomes the majority shareholder in Avidly to support the company accelerate growth. Avidly is a leading marketing technology service provider and a leading partner to HubSpot, supporting companies of all sizes succeed in digital marketing, sales, and customer service. By combining its deep HubSpot capabilities and leading creative and digital marketing skills, Avidly has a strong offering to its customers. Adelis will support the company in its journey ahead, including organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions across regions.

Avidly is an international HubSpot partner, with strong creative and digital marketing capabilities. For three years in a row, Avidly has been ranked as the Global number 1 partner to HubSpot, thanks to its deep HubSpot capabilities and ability to serve a wide range of customers across several countries. The company is headquartered in Helsinki, and has operations in the Nordics, UK, Germany and Canada.

“We are excited to partner with Avidly. The management team and employees at Avidly have done a very good job in establishing the company as a leading marketing technology service company. HubSpot is a fantastic software company and by being a leading elite partner to them, we see great potential for Avidly in a private setting.” say John-Matias Uuttana and Hampus Nestius at Adelis.

“We will support Avidly’s management to accelerate growth and will seek acquisition opportunities to build an even stronger company. We will actively look for companies that are eager to join the journey Avidly is on,” continue John-Matias and Hampus.

“I am welcoming Adelis as the majority shareholder of Avidly. The team at Adelis has a great track record of growing companies, I am looking forward to work with them on the continued journey of Avidly,” says Jesse Maula, CEO of Avidly.

Adelis launched a voluntary recommended public cash tender offer for Avidly in July 2022. The tender offer was successful, and the 90% acceptance threshold was exceeded on September 2^nd. After a subsequent offer period, ending on September 26^th, a 98% acceptance rate was reached. The transaction closed in September 2022. All information related to the public offer can be found at:

https://investors.avidlyagency.com/en/adelis

Adelis was advised by Carnegie and Avance on the transaction.

For further information:

John-Matias Uuttana, Adelis Equity Partners, john-matias.uuttana@adelisequity.com

Hampus Nestius, Adelis Equity Partners, hampus.nestius@adelisequity.com

Jesse Maula, Avidly, jesse.maula@avidlyagency.com

About Avidly

Avidly is a leading Nordic-based marketing technology (MarTech) service provider with its shares trading on Nasdaq First North Helsinki. In Avidly’s MarTech offering, customer experience, data and technology are closely entwined into its impact-driven growth strategy. Avidly partners with organizations of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies and is committed to creating solutions that help companies to grow. Avidly has a team of approximately 280 MarTech professionals in 18 locations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the UK and Canada.

About Adelis Equity Partners

Adelis is a growth partner for well-positioned, Nordic companies. Adelis partners with management and/or owners to build businesses in growth segments and with strong market positions. Since raising its first fund in 2013, Adelis has been one of the most active investors in the Nordic middle-market, making 36 platform investments and more than 150 add-on acquisitions. Adelis today manages approximately €2.5 billion in capital. For more information, please visit www.adelisequity.com

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Tags: Marketing

IK Partners invests in Remazing

admin September 28, 2022

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap III Fund has acquired a significant minority stake in Remazing GmbH (“Remazing” or “the Company”), a leading marketing services and software provider focussing on the Amazon marketplace. IK is investing from its dedicated pool of Development Capital, acquiring its stake from the founders who are reinvesting alongside IK.

Remazing was founded in 2016 by Hannes Detjen and Emil Beck and was developed to serve the growing demand from consumer brands to market their products directly on Amazon. Today, the Company is the largest independent provider in the market, serving over 100 corporate clients globally and employing over 100 e-commerce experts who are based in its headquarters in Hamburg and across local hubs in Barcelona, London, Paris and Turin.

With Amazon broadening its market reach across product segments and geographies in recent years, Remazing developed a full-service offering around content creation, management and monitoring supported by Remdash, its own proprietary software. The Company supports a range of brands selling products across the Beauty & Health, Household & DIY, Sports and Baby segments, counting leading companies such as Henkel, Under Armour and Tonies among its clients.

IK has acquired a significant minority stake in Remazing with Hannes, Emil and Managing Director Filip Egert and Chief Technology Officer Timo Helken reinvesting alongside. With IK’s support, Remazing plans to grow through: strengthening partnerships with existing clients and acquiring new ones, increasing market penetration, developing its technology offering further and expanding into other marketplaces. Additionally, the Company aims to build its presence globally through the execution of a selective M&A strategy.

Hannes Detjen and Emil Beck, Co-Founders and Managing Directors of Remazing, commented: “We are excited to embark on a new stage of development with IK. For the last six years we have been on an incredible journey as we turned our ideas into reality and developed a compelling proposition which helps our clients increase their sales online. The time has now come to welcome external investment to help us turbocharge our own growth and cement our position globally.”

Ingmar Bär, Director at IK Partners and Advisor to the IK Small Cap III Fund, said: “Hannes and Emil have achieved a huge amount in building Remazing with their ambitious team and establishing it as one of Europe’s leading Amazon-focused, tech-enabled marketing services firms. With the ongoing growth of the Amazon ecosystem and growing professionalisation of marketing across online platforms, we see huge potential in partnering with the Remazing team to develop the Company into a leading global player.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0) 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

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Tags: Marketing Software

Oakley capital agrees partial exit from Seedtag

admin July 27, 2022

Oakley Capital (“Oakley”) is pleased to announce that Oakley Capital Origin Fund (“Origin”) has reached an agreement to sell part of its stake in Seedtag to private equity investor Advent International (“Advent”).

Seedtag

Founded by Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto in Madrid in 2014, Seedtag is the leader in contextual advertising in EMEA and LATAM.

The Company helps brands and agencies deliver digital advertising that is directly relevant to the content that readers are consuming, meeting growing market demand for cookie-less solutions that protect brands and prioritise consumer privacy.

Oakley Capital

Oakley leveraged its deep media expertise and strong track record growing digital businesses to invest in Seedtag in 2021, attracted by its proprietary AI technology and entrepreneurial team, and in order to support the company’s international expansion.

Since 2021, Oakley has supported Seedtag’s launch into North America as well as the strategic acquisition of KMTX (previously Keymantics), a leading French company specialised in building AI models to optimise and automate performance marketing campaigns.

During Oakley’s ownership, Seedtag has grown revenues and earnings significantly ahead of forecast.

In partnership with Oakley, we have made strong progress in our business plan, driving top-line growth, pursuing strategic acquisitions and further professionalising the business. We see tremendous opportunity to grow Seedtag further as profound changes in the advertising industry drive demand for our contextual advertising services that enhance both brand awareness and security. We look forward to partnering with Advent and Oakley to take full advantage of these opportunities.

Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto

Co-Founders and Co-CEOs — Seedtag

What first attracted us to invest behind Seedtag were two highly ambitious, ex-Google entrepreneurs with a vision to create a leader in advertising technology, and a market-leading product that addressed the increasing focus on consumer privacy. This is a terrific combination that has delivered strong outcomes. We are pleased to continue our partnership with Jorge and Albert, and welcome Advent as together we position the company for the next stage of its growth plan. Seedtag remains Oakley’s third platform investment in Iberia, a cornerstone region for the firm, alongside market-leading property portal idealista and business software provider Grupo Primavera.

Peter Dubens

Managing Partner — Oakley Capital

Advent International

Partnering with Advent will enable Seedtag to leverage its significant expertise in marketing and data, accelerate its expansion into the US, the world’s largest advertising market, as well as provide additional firepower for additional M&A and investment in the company’s contextual product suite.

Jorge Poyatos and Albert Nieto will continue to lead Seedtag from both its Spanish and US headquarters.

Seedtag has established itself as a leading player in Europe and Latin America in the very dynamic contextual advertising sector. We are delighted to partner with Jorge and Albert as they continue to build on this momentum. With our international presence and deep sector expertise, Advent will work with the Seedtag management team to further expand the business internationally. We look forward to supporting this hugely exciting business to grow and scale-up and to taking it to the next level.

Gonzalo Santos

Managing Director and Head of Spain — Advent International

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Tags: Marketing

Adelis announces a public cash tender offer for all shares and special rights in Avidly, a leading MarTech service provider

admin July 12, 2022

Adelis has today announced a voluntary public cash tender offer for all shares and special rights in Avidly Plc recommended by the Board of Directors of Avidly Plc. Avidly Plc is a leading marketing technology service provider with its shares trading on Nasdaq First North Helsinki.

To read more about the tender offer, please visit the offer site at https://investors.avidlyagency.com/en/adelis