London-based marketing platform Influencer has raised €3.4 million in Series A funding from Puma Private Equity. The funding will be used to drive new innovations within its platform and expand its global presence.
Influencer’s technology simplifies the influencer marketing process for both advertisers and creators. The data-driven end-to-end technology platform provides global advertisers with access to a network of premium macro and micro creators vetted for authenticity, quality and creativity based on powerful first-party data. Bringing together creator discovery, creator relationship management, campaign management and campaign reporting, along with enriched actionable insights, the platform empowers brands to make smarter decisions on any of their influencer activities across the globe.
Influencer was launched in 2017 by 23-year-old Ben Jeffries who leads the company as CEO, and 25-year-old YouTube influencer Caspar Lee, Influencer Chief Visionary Officer (CVO).
Influencer is currently growing at 420% year-on-year and is already working with many of the world’s leading brands, including Boohoo, Alibaba, Pepsi, Starbucks, Pantene, Uber Eats, PrettyLittleThing and Apple Music, to name a few.
In January 2019, Influencer bolstered its board with the appointment of serial entrepreneur Adam Ludwin, co-founder of search intelligence company Captify and growth marketing agency Inflecto Media as Director of the Board.
Influencer will now further build out its team of experts and double its headcount by the end of the year, including making a series of key hires to its global management team. The company will also open its first US office in New York, led by CEO Ben Jeffries, with expansion planned to the West Coast over the next year.
Along with scaling its development team, Influencer will be releasing its mobile app, which “allows brands and content creators to create meaningful relationships in a way that has never been seen before,” said co-founder and CEO Ben Jeffries.
“At Influencer we pride ourselves in being by creators, for creators, with a team who embody this new era of creativity and enjoy unrivalled relationships with the world’s leading creators,” said co-founder and CVO Caspar Lee. “Our shared vision allows us to create unique and seamless collaborations between creators and brands that transform the influencer marketing ecosystem and engage consumers through authentic and creative campaigns.”
“With its disruptive approach, strength of technology and creator credentials, Influencer is ideally placed to continue its explosive growth,” said Tommy O’Sullivan, managing director of Puma Private Equity. “Ben, Caspar and Adam are a uniquely skilled team whose knowledge and understanding of this fast-moving sector has impressed us from day one. We are delighted to be working with them and look forward to helping them achieve their aggressive goals for the business over the coming years.”
