The former CEO of ad-tech company Undertone is building a 'mini Accenture' for direct-to-consumer brands, and just made another big acquisition
- Former CEO and chairman of ad-tech company Undertone Michael Cassidy is building a one-stop shop for direct-to-consumer brands navigating e-commerce.
- His firm, BVAccel, just acquired the professional services practice of Weblinc, an e-commerce software company with clients including Urban Outfitters, Reformation, and Heineken.
- Cassidy is trying to build a "mini-Accenture" for direct-to-consumer brands, with strategic, technical, and creative services, and the acquisition is meant to help clients connect online and offline commerce and grow internationally.
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Last year, ad-tech veteran Michael Cassidy launched his own family-office fund with a bet on e-commerce. Now, he's going all in.
The former CEO and chairman of the ad-tech company Undertone acquired the professional services practice of Weblinc, an e-commerce software company with clients including Urban Outfitter's Reformation and Heineken.
The acquisition, whose terms were not disclosed, is meant to lend more technical capability to BVAccel, an e-commerce marketing agency that helps brands build their digital storefronts on Shopify and Amazon and which Cassidy bought last fall. It comes on the heels of BVAccel buying media agency Katana last week.
"The technical needs of direct-to-consumer brands are scaling infinitely," Cassidy told Business Insider. "The practice gets us closer to in-store tech and gives us a more robust technical footprint to redesign the next digital e-commerce experience."
The non-acquired part of Weblinc will shift to focus on software and its Workarea Commerce Platform, a cloud-based enterprise commerce platform that's similar to Shopify Plus.
August Spark is going all in on e-commerce
Cassidy launched his fund August Spark last fall to build a portfolio of technology and marketing services companies. Since then he's narrowed in on e-commerce with BVAccel.
The idea is to give direct-to-consumer brands all the services they need to sell online, including customer journey mapping, strategy, data, technology, and channel management. Cassidy compared his approach to what consulting firms such as Accenture Interactive, Deloitte Digital and IBM iX are trying to do in marketing.
BVAccel wants to be the 'Accenture' for DTC brands and their needs
"We are trying to build a 'mini-Accenture' for direct-to-consumer brands," he said. "We want to be top-of-mind for all the brands in the $10- to $200-million range that are not Ford or American Express and are trying to figure out e-commerce."
BVAccel, which launched in 2013, has worked with including Red Bull, Rebecca Minkoff, and Chubbies. Since being acquired by August Spark, it has added clients including Native Co., Lifetime Brands, and Black Rifle Coffee and doubled in staff size to about 200, according to Cassidy.
Lifetime Brands, for example, has a range of homeware goods brands in its portfolio, such as KitchenAid and Wallace. While some of these already have a digital e-commerce presence, others are just getting started. BVAccel helps these different brands individually depending on their needs and doesn't take a one size fits all approach, said Kevin Clisham, division president at Lifetime.
BVAccel has clients that have a physical retail presence or plan to create one, said Cassidy. Weblinc's non-software business will let BVAccel help clients connect online and offline commerce and grow internationally.
"These new brands don't want to follow a legacy retail model or work with a number of disparate partners," he said. "They want the stores to have as much technology and innovation as their digital storefront in order to create an experience and build a brand."