Hero Digital, a portfolio company of CI Capital, has acquired Clock Four, a digital advertising and strategy agency.
Hero provides digital strategy, design, engineering, and analytic services to marketers to improve customer experiences and brand performance. Customers of the company include Western Digital, Sephora, Salesforce, and Aramark. Hero is led by CEO David Kilimnik and has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston (www.herodigital.com).
Similar to Hero, Clock Four is a provider of digital strategy, customer experience strategy, brand activation, lifecycle marketing, and digital ecosystem development. The company specializes in the financial services and high technology sectors and its customers include U.S. Bank, Juniper Networks, and Veritas Technologies. Clock Four was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in San Francisco (www.clockfour.com).
“Our clients look to us to solve their biggest customer experience challenges,” said Mr. Kilimnik. “The consumer financial and B2B technology sectors continue to grow and evolve, and it is essential that we are keeping up with the pace of change. We want customers to understand our commitment to delivering outstanding results. We are thrilled to welcome Clock Four to Hero Digital and we look forward to driving continued success into 2019.”
Clock Four’s CEO, Jon Eberly, will join Hero Digital as Executive Vice President, and the Hero Digital and Clock Four teams will be integrating effective immediately. “This partnership with Hero Digital brings value to our clients and our employees,” said Mr. Eberly. “We love what we do, and being part of a fast-growing agency with an exceptional reputation like Hero will enable us to do more of what we do, at scale.”
CI Capital acquired Hero in March 2016. The buy of Clock Four is the fourth add-on for Hero since CI Capital acquired the company in March 2016. The three earlier add-ons were MaassMedia, a digital data analytics company based in Philadelphia (acquired in May 2018); Beyond Vigilant, a provider of digital marketing strategies based in Bellevue, WA (October 2017); and Delphic Digital, a provider of digital marketing strategies based in Philadelphia (September 2017).
The acquisition of Clock Four bolsters Hero Digital’s strategy practice and domain expertise in financial services and B2B technology. “Hero Digital’s acquisition of Clock Four is a reflection of Hero’s thoughtful, impactful approach to expanding its expertise and market reach through its acquisition strategy,” said Joost Thesseling, a managing director at CI Capital. “We are excited to support Hero Digital as it continues to grow and improve its digital marketing model.”
CI Capital Partners invests from $25 million to $100 million in middle market companies in the following sectors: business services, consumer services, distribution, government services and defense, and light manufacturing. Since its founding in 1993, CI Capital and its portfolio companies have made more than 310 acquisitions representing over $10 billion in enterprise value. The firm is based in New York (www.cicapllc.com).
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | December 10, 2018
