Integrate acquires Akkroo

Having gone a number of weeks now without being able to talk about some exciting personal news, I’m delighted to finally share that as of today, Akkroo has been acquired by Integrate Inc.

Over the last 5 years alongside the Akkroo team, Chris and I have spent building up our business and the Event Lead Capture category, we’ve rarely dwelt on the future too much. However, there were a few times where we felt it was possible that Akkroo might one day find itself as an attractive proposition to a bigger technology player. It always seemed that if it happened at all, it would occur several years down the line.

So when in the summer of 2018 Jeremy Bloom, Integrate’s founder and CEO, reached out to us and put the proposal to us that perhaps we could be a stronger force in-market by uniting, it’s fair to say we were a little taken aback.

Since then, and over the last few months, Chris and I have been fortunate to be able to get to know Jeremy and the leadership team of Integrate well. They are the leading light in the B2B Demand Orchestration software category, and as we talked with them, we found a real shared view of the challenges of business events and related, broader “top of funnel” problems inside B2B lead acquisition and management today. That shared view is ultimately what helped bring us to this exciting moment.

If we had not quickly realised that we shared a high degree of base cultural alignment, or a clear fit in our vision, this would not have been something we would have entertained. However, the more time we spent with their team both in London and Phoenix where Integrate are headquartered, the more it felt like a natural union, with the potential for a greater outcome should we work together.

For Akkroo Customers & Event Lead Capture

The great upshot of this for our customers is that we can further accelerate on our mission to modernise the outdated state of mobile event lead capture & management in businesses across the world.

We raised some funds last year using a non-traditional investment route, and set a course to expand further into US markets and develop our product offerings. By binding onto Integrate, we now have even more wind in our sails, greater expertise to help build out our vision, and immediate access to a number of global locations from which to base our operations.

We also have come to understand another growing force in marketing technology — Integrate’s Demand Orchestration solution — and our coming-together affords customers (and future prospects) of both firms incredible new product possibilities, which we will talk more about in the coming months.

So often a merger or acquisition is the end of the journey, but this is very much the opposite for Akkroo. Chris and I had established a very clear view of the future before this opportunity emerged, and this now helps us to crystallise it and increase our joint odds of success.

For Akkroo’s team

For the whole Akkroo team, this is a big moment to celebrate. We’ve grown to 50 people strong, and for me it’s an honour to spend my days working alongside some of the most talented individuals in their field in Europe. Now as we lock arms with Integrate and their team, as individuals we will all benefit from spending time with some of the most experienced minds and respected individuals working in SaaS, but on other side of the Atlantic. For me personally, this is one of the most exciting prospects for the days and years ahead.

Our whole team will greatly benefit from the cross-pollination of ideas, the prospect of new opportunities to travel, new opportunities for personal growth, and the broadening of networks and experiences.

Building successful businesses to scale is hard, and Chris and I are incredibly grateful to each of our team for investing a significant proportion of their time and livelihood into helping us take on this mission.

What’s really extraordinary is that we completed the whole process of coming together in a shade over 3 months; an epic undertaking and a reflection of the joint desire to execute and not delay a moment longer than needed.

I’m very much looking forward to being part of this new, expanded organisation and embarking on the next leg of our journey together.

This post was first published on Thu Apr 04 2019 originally on justbeyondthebridge.co.uk, my former personal blog

The author

My name is Andy Higgs and I am a founder, designer, occassional surfer and travel enthusiast based in the UK.

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