Abacus, ranked consistently in New Media Age’s chart of Top 100 Digital Agencies, is widely known in the media sector for its Webvision modular content management system. More recently, says Abacus, the company’s newly developed ADvance audience development platform has been welcomed as providing an entirely new way for subscription-based organisations to manage, develop and monetise relationships with their customers. The company’s clients include Centaur Media, Thomson Reuters, UBM, EMAP, Christie’s, Conde Nast and The Law Society.
Business Growth Fund was established in 2011 to unlock the potential of fast-growing UK businesses that need long-term capital to drive their future success. Backed by five of the UK’s main banking groups – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered – BGF is an independent company with up to £2.5bn with which to make its long-term equity investments.
Chris Hodges, Investment Director of Business Growth Fund, who will join the board of Abacus as a non-executive director: “Abacus is an exciting UK software company that has had the confidence and ambition to invest and develop its audience development platform. I am delighted to be partnering with Steve Feigen and his team to full his ambitions for Abacus.”
Steve Feigen, Abacus CEO: “The investment from BGF will help us to realise the full potential of the ADvance platform. Initial market reaction has been very encouraging and this newly secured investment will enable us to accelerate the on-going development of both the product and the marketplace at a much greater rate than we could have hoped to achieve. At the same time, we will continue to develop both the Webvision and Recruit platforms, and strengthen our support and services teams.”
Martin Durham, chairman of Abacus e-Media: “The BGF investment marks the start of a major new chapter in the history of Abacus, and is very good news for existing and potential clients and for all our staff. Our partnership with BGF not only brings substantial financial resources to the company but also further strengthens the board with the introduction of Chris Hodges from BGF and Nick Caplan, formerly Chief Marketing Officer at Logica plc, as non-executive directors.”
