Dotdigital Group plc has snapped up eCommerce personalisation firm Fresh Relevance for £25 million.
The listed customer engagement platform said the deal includes £18.9m cash and £6.1m by the issue of new ordinary shares in Dotdigital at 88.698p.
The acquisition will complete on admission of the equity shares to trading on AIM and is expected to add more than £6m of annual revenues, of which 93% are recurring SaaS revenue, and £600,000 annual EBITDA before integration costs.
Post-acquisition, the group will have a cash balance of £38.3m.
Fresh Relevance was founded in 2013 and operates from its offices in London and Southampton. The platform increases conversions and boosts revenues by using data to personalise customer experiences across web, email, mobile app, SMS and ads. Clients include Buyagift (pictured).
Capabilities include triggered emails, product recommendations, onsite popovers, dynamic content, behavioural and geotargeting, optimisation and customer data management. Fresh Relevance has more than 300 customers around the world spanning consumer and B2B ecommerce and travel. Customers include Rip Curl, Dreams, Hoseasons and Wowcher.
Dotdigital and Fresh Relevance have a strong existing relationship and share a number of joint customers that utilise the existing technology integration.
As part of Dotdigital, Fresh Relevance will operate under its existing brand. The integration of Fresh Relevance into the group will be overseen by Dotdigital’s newly appointed chief business operations officer Helen Thomazin and Fresh Relevance CEO and co-founder Mike Austin, who will join the Dotdigital leadership team but not its board.
“The acquisition of Fresh Relevance and its expertise in the realm of web significantly enhances our personalisation capabilities and provides opportunity for average revenue per user expansion,” said Dotdigital CEO Milan Patel.
“Its addition marks a leap forward in our CXDP growth journey, bringing together customer insights, cross-channel engagement, and on-site personalisation capabilities to provide marketers with the tools to exert greater influence across the customer journey.
“Having worked together as partners for five years, we have been long-term admirers of Fresh Relevance and its talented staff. Our cultural alignment gives me confidence that customers old and new will reap the benefits of a more comprehensive offering that extends beyond traditional marketing channels.
“On behalf of the board and everyone at Dotdigital I would like to welcome Fresh Relevance to the organisation. I look forward to working closely with them to achieve our shared ambitions and drive increased value for the group’s shareholders.”