Emailvision buys SmartFocus for $40M
Email services provider Emailvision said June 14 that it has acquired customer intelligence software company SmartFocus for $40 million.
“This is our second acquisition this year, and both of these acquisitions are technology acquisitions,” said Nick Heys, founder and CEO of Emailvision. “What most people don't know is this company has been building over the last three years a [software-as-a-service] version of their customer intelligence product.”
Heys said Emailvision will release a “targeting and data exploration tool” on September 15 after beta testing by 10 clients. He said the platform will allow marketers to segment their consumer bases and create “tighter upsell and cross-sell campaigns.”
The deal, which closed June 10, resulted in the dissolution of SmartFocus' board of directors, said Heys. He added that “most” of SmartFocus' senior management team will stay with Emailvision and report to Heys or Emailvision COO Guy Porre.
Emailvision will retain 125 SmartFocus employees, said Heys, who called the number “a great majority of [SmartFocus'] staff.” The acquisition will bring Emailvision's employee base to 600, with the company planning to expand to 700 staffers by the end of the year, he said.
Heys said Emailvision is planning a “handful” of acquisitions over the next 36 months to expand the company's technological capabilities as well as its global footprint, specifically in the Asia market.
Emailvision will also relocate from its Paris headquarters to London “to accelerate the global expansion,” said Heys.
