Julius Acquires HYPR
MTS May 7, 2020
Two influencer marketing software leaders unite
Julius Works Inc. announced the completion of its acquisition of HYPR Brands. Julius and HYPR are industry-leading, 360-degree software solutions that streamline, simplify, and scale influencer marketing for renowned brands and agencies, such as Nike, ViacomCBS, Pepsi, Revlon, and Edelman. Their cutting-edge capabilities include influencer search and discovery, campaign management, and measurement and reporting suites. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Headquartered in New York City, HYPR has received prestigious awards, being named best influencer marketing company and platform by DIGIDAY and Business of Apps. Julius and HYPR have raised more than $30 million combined from investors including: Edgewater Capital Partners, Klingenstein Fields Wealth Advisors, LaunchCapital, Maverick Capital, Prudence Holdings, Resolute Ventures, Silvertech Ventures, and World Trade Ventures.
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The influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates based on Mediakix data. The North American influencer marketing SaaS market is projected to be worth $2 billion in 2020, according to MarketsandMarkets.
“We are thrilled to acquire HYPR and merge their outstanding product and team with our own,” said Jared Augustine, co-founder & CEO of Julius. “Both companies have innovated this industry since it came to life. Together, we are creating an unmatched knowledge center for influencer marketing software, which will translate to best-in-class products for our customers.”
As a result of this transaction, Julius will merge the best features of Julius and HYPR’s platforms. For example, Julius will combine its robust influencer profiles, the most detailed on the market, with HYPR’s comprehensive influencer database featuring over 12 million influencers, the largest in the world. The Julius and HYPR platforms will take up to a year to completely merge. In the interim, each company’s customers will continue using the platform they are subscribed to.
Gil Eyal, founder & CEO of HYPR, adds, “We’re excited about this transaction bringing together two market leaders in influencer marketing SaaS. HYPR and Julius have long been aligned on serving the enterprise market with best-in-class technology and service, so customers of both platforms will benefit from this combination.”
Julius and HYPR will now serve the largest enterprise customer base in the influencer marketing software industry, boasting over 200 major international brand and agency clients, combined. The transaction is a win for influencers as well, as Julius and HYPR enable brands and agencies to easily identify and access influencers for their marketing programs, but they don’t take a cut of resulting influencer deals. Instead, they charge clients annual license fees for access to their software.
“Julius has been a valued partner of Foot Locker, Inc., from informing and developing our influencer strategy to identifying talent at the core of sneaker culture,” said Francine Feder, VP of Marketing Communications for Foot Locker North America. “We are excited to see how their acquisition of HYPR will further enhance their influencer network and data-driven technology in the future.”