A digital marketing agency in Gloucestershire that was among the South West winners of The Queen鈥檚 Awards for Enterprise last year has been acquired for an undisclosed sum.
Cheltenham-based Ocere, which helps clients to grow their businesses online by bringing them greater visibility on search engines, has been acquired by French digital marketing group JVWEB.
Founded in 2009 by University of Gloucestershire graduate turned entrepreneur Tom Parling, Ocere received royal recognition following a period of rapid revenue growth, including a +113% rise in 2020, and a 63% upturn in 2021.
The business serves over 220 clients globally across sectors such as gaming, tech and finance, and employs around 20 people. It posted a total revenue of around 拢5m last year.
JVWEB said the acquisition of Ocere, which it called a 鈥渕ajor player鈥 in SEO, would support its strategy to strengthen its international network, for which it raised 拢20.8m last year, and support its double-digit growth.
The Montpellier-headquartered firm is looking to add to its international presence having already opened offices in Geneva and Shanghai.
Mr Parling, a former recipient of the at the Gloucestershire Business Awards, said the move was a 鈥渨in-win鈥 for both companies and their clients.
Mr Parling said: 鈥淎fter a nine-month intense process, yielding significant global interest I was immediately attracted to the proposition from JVWEB and Capital Croissance.
鈥淭heir values, mindset and ambitions are aligned with ours 鈥 and they bring a sharpness to the table that is familiar and mirrors what has made Ocere so successful in recent years.
鈥淲e are excited to become part of an ambitious international group, develop our service offerings and continually improve our proposition to clients worldwide.鈥
Jonathan Vidor, founder and chief executive of JVWEB, said the deal was an 鈥渆xciting step forward鈥 for the group鈥檚 European development.
Mr Vidor said: 鈥淚 am very happy that Ocere is joining JVWEB, we share the same strategic vision, values and desire for development in Europe. This allows us to offer a complete SEO offering to our clients - strategy, on-site, link acquisition, content - and also to develop our expertise in Google ads and social ads in the United Kingdom and beyond.
鈥淭he 海角视频 is an important and exciting market for us, representing the largest European market and a valuable gateway to the English-speaking worldwide population of over 1.2bn people.鈥
Ocere was advised on the deal by Darren Murphy at Rafalie Corporate Finance while Guy-Hubert de Foug猫res at Capital Croissance advised JVWEB.
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