BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Echobot, a leading provider of European sales intelligence, and Leadfeeder, a best-in-class web visitor intelligence platform, today announced an agreement to merge, creating a ground-breaking AI-powered sales intelligence and go-to-market platform. Great Hill Partners, a growth equity firm that invests in high-growth, disruptive companies, has invested €180 million to support the merger and help the newly formed company drive continued product innovation, scale go-to-market capabilities, and accelerate growth. Great Hill also committed an additional €50 million for the combined company to pursue strategic acquisitions.
The newly formed group will be led by Echobot CEO Bastian Karweg and Leadfeeder CEO Pekka Koskinen, headquartered in Germany and powered by a globally integrated team of 250 professionals across six offices in Europe and the US supporting over 8,500 customer accounts. Great Hill Partners’ Derek Schoettle, Chris Gaffney, and Greg Stewart will join the Board of Directors.
"It is our goal to be the leading sales intelligence and go-to-market platform to our core European and North American markets. Thanks to Great Hill, we have now assembled the best data, AI / ML, talent, and operating experience to achieve just that. We are increasingly seeing organizations looking to take advantage of their own data and third-party data, and then to augment this intelligence with better, more personalized outreach. The combination of Echobot and Leadfeeder is uniquely positioned to capitalize on a massive market opportunity at the early stages of adoption," said Bastian Karweg, CEO of Echobot.
"Integrating Leadfeeder's web visitor identification system with Echobot's data and prospecting solutions creates a unique platform upon which we can both enable organizations’ to identify and engage high-intent prospects as well as introduce incremental applications that enhance B2B sales and marketing operations," said Pekka Koskinen, CEO of Leadfeeder.
"Go-to-market is one of the fastest-growing areas of B2B software. Sales and marketing organizations need timely, accurate information and intelligent systems to identify and engage their prospects in an increasingly personalized, automated fashion. By bringing together Echobot and Leadfeeder, we can create the next-generation sales intelligence and go-to-market platform," said Derek Schoettle, Growth Partner at Great Hill Partners.
GP Bullhound acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Echobot and Leadfeeder in the transaction, supported by legal advice from firms Hengeler Mueller, Avance Attorneys, YPOG, Latham Watkins, Choate Hall & Stewart and Merilampi.
About Echobot Media Technologies GmbH
Founded in 2011, Echobot specializes in providing premium company, contact and market-relevant data to fuel sales and marketing teams. Echobot’s innovative data platform leverages modern AI and machine learning that is made and hosted in Germany, helps businesses to refine their target audience, generate more B2B prospects, close new customers and boost revenues. Over 1,500 companies rely on Echobot to discover up-to-date firmographics, financials, sales triggers, similar companies and current news. For more information, visit www.echobot.com.
About Leadfeeder
Leadfeeder is a global B2B sales intelligence platform that identifies real-time buyer intent on customers’ websites. Leadfeeder identifies the companies and people visiting the website, automatically scores their intent based on behavior and assigns them to the right channel at the right time. With over 60,000 users globally, Leadfeeder’s unique 2-way integrations with CRMs and marketing platforms bring sales and marketing teams together, providing them with a unified 360-view of the customer journey. For more information, visit www.leadfeeder.com.
About Great Hill Partners
Great Hill Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm targeting investments of $100 million to $500 million in high-growth companies across the software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors. Over the past two decades, Great Hill has raised over $12 billion of commitments and invested in more than 90 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and providing flexible resources to help middle-market companies scale. Great Hill has recently been recognized for its industry leadership, being ranked #5 in the 2021 HEC - DowJones Private Equity Performance Ranking, which evaluated fund performance of 517 leading private equity firms between 2008 – 2017. For more information, including a list of all Great Hill investments, visit www.greathillpartners.com.
