Email & SMS marketing specialists Pure360 attract investment in £10.5m deal

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has invested £6.5million into the company, with the balance coming from Investec and management.

Pure360 joins SEP’s growing roster of digital media firms, including the world leading travel search site Skyscanner and social media analytics company SocialBro.

Pure360, which works with brands including Virgin and innocent drinks, has doubled its turnover since 2008 and this investment is expected to enable it to double that again by 2016. 65 new jobs will also be created, taking the Brighton-based firm’s headcount to 165.

The UK market for email marketing platforms and services is forecast to be worth £513million this year and the sector’s continued growth is reflected in this deal and other recent inward investment activity, such as Silverpop funding and the ExactTarget purchase.

Stuart Dawson, CEO of Pure360 commented: “The investment will enable us to develop our platform’s functionalities even further, focusing on segmentation, geolocation and automation so that marketers can send messages at the right time, to the right people in the right place – predicting what they need, before they even know it themselves.”

Gordon Beveridge, who secured the deal for SEP, added: “Pure360 is already a major player in the market due to its outstanding customer service and strategic understanding of clients’ needs. This funding to further develop its technological capabilities will take Pure360 to the next level.”

GP Bullhound, the technology investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Pure360 on its sale. The transaction is GP Bullhound’s eighth in the digital marketing sector in the last 18 months.