Leadpages has announced its acquisition by Redbrick, a parent company to a small portfolio of digital entities based in Victoria, British Columbia. Financial details of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.
Leadpages will remain in Minneapolis — as will the company’s 40 employees — but will operate under Redbrick’s portfolio and shared-services model with guidance and support from the Victoria, B.C. company’s executive team. Drip, the e-commerce marketing company bought by Leadpages in 2016, will remain separate from the acquisition and will continue to be overseen by John Tedesco, CEO of Avenue 81, Inc., the holding company under which Leadpages and Drip have operated.
Tobyn Sowden, CEO of Redbrick, shared his thoughts on what made Leadpages the right company to kickstart a new chapter for the Canadian company.
“Leadpages is the first company to be acquired into the Redbrick portfolio, unlike its other operating companies — [digital workflow tool] Shift, [digital publishing entity] Assembly, and [in-house developer] Rebase — which have been built up and grown from within,” Sowden said. “Through our unique shared-services model, we have learned how to successfully deploy our expertise in digital marketing across a portfolio of companies. In seeking another company to add to the portfolio, we thought to ourselves, ‘Do we want to build the next company, or find a company that’s already established, has a great team and great product market fit?’ Obviously, we decided on the latter, and when we came across Leadpages, we quickly realized the company was in the perfect position for us to lend oversight and marketing expertise to foster growth.”
According to Tedesco, Jason Heath, the General Manager of Leadpages, spearheaded the majority of the acquisition’s inquiry and due diligence process. With the ink dry, Heath shared his positive thoughts.
“The Leadpages team and I are looking forward to this new phase of growth and are thrilled to have the support of the entire Redbrick team as we guide our team and loyal customers through this acquisition,” he said in a release. “We are excited to leverage the prowess of Redbrick’s diverse team and their expertise in digital marketing, including their unique shared services model and executive-level oversight.”
When asked what the acquisition meant for the future of Drip, Tedesco said it was a win/win for all involved — a versatile and established acquisition for Redbrick and refocused capital strength for Drip. Speaking about Drip’s new position after the acquisition on the upcoming episode of The tech.mn Podcast, he spoke candidly about the hard work ahead.
“[The acquisition] is allowing us to now ruthlessly focus on pursuing our markets,” he said. “We have a clear capital base in which execute. We’re flush with capital. So, use it with discretion. Use it intelligently. Then, execute against our road map because… we’re in the early stages here in this new version of Drip. We’re in start of year three. So, if it takes 10 years to make overnight success, we’ve got some work to do.”
If you’re eager to hear more about Leadpages’ acquisition, the future of Drip, and all things e-commerce, you’re in luck. A new episode of The tech.mn Podcast featuring John Tedesco will be hitting the feed tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Images courtesy of Redbrick. From top: Redbrick logo, Leadpages logo, Redbrick CEO Tobyn Sowden, Drip CEO John Tedesco
