Alex Bogusky and Aussie agency players invest in influencer marketing platform influence.co
influence.co, the leading influencer marketing platform where over 50,000 influencers, brands and agencies connect announced today that ad industry heavyweight Alex Bogusky, via his Boulder-based venture capital firm BCV, and a group of Australian agency financiers have made an investment in its current round.
Bogusky was a founding partner of advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) which grew to more than 1,000 employees with of ces in Miami, Boulder, Los Angeles, London and Sweden. Under Bogusky’s leadership, CP+B became the world’s most awarded ad agency and has a reputation for winning adland’s most prestigious creative accounts such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, VW, Burger King and Kraft Foods. Generating annual billings over US$1 billion, CP+B is the only agency to have won the Cannes Advertising Grand Prix in all five categories (Promo, Media, Cyber, Titanium and Film). In 2008, Bogusky was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in the US, and he was named “Creative Director of the Decade” by Adweek magazine in 2010.
Says Dane Mcdonald, managing director for BCV: “We firmly believe every digital agency and PR company will offer influencer marketing services. We’ve been looking for a company that is technology-driven and doesn’t run campaigns themselves. We believe the winner in this space will support agencies and not compete with them.”
In addition to BCV, two Australian firms, which were cornerstone investors in influence.co, have also participated in the latest funding round: Twenty3 Capital (the private investment arm of the Twenty3 Group, a leading sport, entertainment, public relations and media agency holding company) and Jaszac Investments (which owns Hemisphere, one of Australia’s leading sport management agencies representing over 100 Australian Football League (AFL) players and other sporting personalities).
Says John Tripodi, CEO of Twenty3 Capital: “We were impressed by influence.co’s management team and vision to create a global platform which is not limited by country borders. In our opinion, marketing spend on influencer campaigns will continue to increase across all major markets. influence.co has quickly become the standard platform for influencers of any size to have a presence and showcase their work to potential clients.”
Simultaneously, influence.co is announcing a full set of features designed to help digital media and public relations agencies build their own influencer marketing practices. Agencies of all sizes can now build and execute complete influencer and micro-influencer campaigns on the platform for a fraction of the cost of full-suite software options.
Says Niel Robertson, CEO of influence.co: “More than 50,000 influencers have already signed up with in uence.co and with our new discovery, tracking and reporting tools, any agency can offer world-class in uencer marketing to their clients. We expect the involvement of Alex and our Australian partners will massively accelerate our ability to serve the agency landscape.”
The total round is $500,000 and will close in January. It will provide the company enough runway to achieve profitability.