Croud secures £30m investment from LDC

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Croud on a £30m minority investment from private equity house LDC.

Founded in the UK in 2011, Croud provides tech-enabled digital marketing services to leading brands via an innovative and disruptive service delivery model. Croud uses its proprietary technology to support planning, automation and execution of digital marketing campaigns – and then scales this capability via its global network of 2,400 on-demand digital marketing specialists. It operates from offices in London, New York, Sydney and Shrewsbury.

LDC is backing the existing management team led by co-founders Luke Smith and Ben Knight. The deal will support Croud to accelerate its global growth alongside further development of its proprietary technology.

Simon Nicholls, Partner at GP Bullhound, commented: “Croud is changing the game with technology, with an ability to deliver the right resourcing of skillset and local expertise at higher utilisation and lower cost using a curated proprietary marketplace of talent. In an increasingly digital-first market we expect to see more reinventions of the agency model like this, using technology and the gig economy to drive new delivery solutions.”

Luke Smith, CEO and Co-founder of Croud, commented: “We have seen phenomenal growth but we’re only just getting started. GP Bullhound has been a fantastic advisory partner to us, advising expertly on the range of options open to us and delivering the ideal transaction to continue our mission.”