Canada’s Intouch Insight Closes Acquisition of Parent Company of American CX Measurement Firm
Ontario, Canada-based Intouch Insight Ltd. has closed on the acquisition of Fairfield, Connecticut-headquartered Brand Equity Builders Inc. (BEB), a provider of management services to its subsidiaries and the parent company of both Alta360 Research and sister company Ardent Retail Services. The definitive agreement was signed on September 15, 2023.
Intouch Insight offers a portfolio of CX management products and services, helping clients collect and centralize data from multiple customer touch points and then providing insights and tools to improve CX. Alta is a US CX measurement company that has furnished services across the US since 1999, while Ardent is a new venture that offers in-store services such as merchandising and re-branding.
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Alta had calendar-year 2022 annual revenue of $5.0 million, and Intouch will not assume any of its long-term debt. The purchase price for the acquisition, a combination of cash and a promissory note, is approximately $3.125 million in cash, of which $1.5 million is payable at closing along with a promissory note for $0.5 million, with approximately $1.125 million payable over the next four years based on the achievement of Alta revenue targets and Ardent gross profits.
Intouch is financing the acquisition from its existing cash resources and with a five-year bank loan for Canadian $2.0 million from Montreal-based BDC Capital, with a floating interest rate currently at 9.9% annually. The acquisition is subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange, the stock exchange based in Calgary, Alberta, with a listing of more than 1,600 companies consisting mostly of small-cap Canadian stocks.
On October 1, Stanley Hart, the former CEO of BEB, Alta, and Ardent, joined Intouch to focus on revenue growth.
Contentsquare Signs Agreement to Acquire Heap
French digital experience analytics firm Contentsquare has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Heap, the a San Francisco digital insights provider whose platform sheds light on the customer journey.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but an official statement describes the deal as being the largest acquisition to date for Contentsquare, which will allow the Paris-based company to accelerate its product vision, enabling the delivery of an all-in-one analytics platform that will serve as an advanced alternative to traditional analytics.
The acquisition will also be a means to bring together two complementary industry players, executives from both companies say.
Related Article: InMoment and Contentsquare Partner on Digital Experience
Heap, founded in Silicon Valley in 2013, is known for product analytics platforms used by the company’s more than 1,200 customers to visualize customer engagement over time and improve adoption and retention. Contentsquare, founded in France in 2012, helps businesses and organizations understand how customers are using their websites and apps. The company today serves more than 1.3 million websites worldwide, including more than 1,300 enterprise brands.
“The acquisition of Heap will extend Contentsquare’s platform capabilities with deeper and broader insights,” says Jonathan Cherki, CEO & founder of Contentsquare. “It marks a critical milestone in our journey to maximize value for customers through breaking down data silos, fostering collaboration and giving all teams a 360-degree view of their customers’ experience.”
Ken Fine, CEO at Heap, says joining the Contentsquare group is an exciting opportunity. “Integrating our two best-of-breed platforms enables us to help our customers understand and improve the complete customer journey and deliver the best experiences, improving NPS and customer lifetime value.”
The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2023. Following the acquisition, leading tech investors including Menlo Ventures, NewView Capital, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and DTCP among others will become Contentsquare shareholders.
EX and HR Startup Atomicwork Secures $11 Million in Seed Funding
Atomicwork, the San Francisco-based human resources (HR) startup founded by Indian entrepreneur Vijay Rayapati together with engineers Kiran Darisi and Parsuram Vijayasankar of customer service software maker Freshworks, has raised $11 million in its seed funding round to emerge from stealth mode.
The funding round was led by Mumbai, India-based Blume Ventures and San Francisco-headquartered Matrix Partners, with participation coming from Storm Ventures, Neon Fund, and prominent angel investors.
Leveraging AI in its aim to redefine the employee experience (EX), Atomicwork integrates with collaboration tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, using conversational intelligence to automate support, service delivery, and operations at scale. It hopes to simplify the number of tools with which employees interact every day, a statement from the company says. Atom, its AI assistant, learns from company processes and accumulated knowledge to assist employees in handling their inquiries and requests without the need for human intervention.
“Employees are still far away from being considered internal customers by service teams because of arbitrary boundaries between the back office and the rest of the company. They implement too many point solutions and complex processes, leading to productivity loss and unnecessary friction,” notes CEO Rayapati. “Our goal with Atomicwork is to help companies offer a great experience with good efficiency.”
Announcement of the new capital infusion for Atomicwork comes at a time when funding for India-based startups has plunged, down to $5.4 billion in the first half of 2023 from $19.0 billion during the same six-month period a year ago, according to figures provided by Indian media and information purveyor Inc42.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
