AIM-listed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for the PR, communications and marketing industries Access Intelligence has acquired Pulsar in a stock swap acquisition with its previous owners Cello Health.
Insights and ‘social listening’ solution Pulsar uses AI to analyse conversational and behavioural social media data in an effort to help brands understand their audiences.
Pulsar will join the Access Intelligence portfolio of products, including Vuelio, and journalist and influencer network ResponseSource.
The deal is said to make improvements in the group’s capability, notably in trend forecasting, social listening, audience segmentation and marketing evaluation.
Access Intelligence’s revenue in the first six months to 31 May 2019 increased by 42 per cent to £6.2 million, with a pre-acquisition market capitalisation of £33million.
The combined customer base will now include more than 3,500 global brands, and a group headcount will now number over 200 across London and the US.
Pulsar was acquired for £4.5m in the transaction between Access Intelligence and Cello, who have shareholders in common.
As part of the deal, Cello Health will retain an interest in Pulsar through Consideration Shares and continue to promote to its client base.
Joanna Arnold, CEO of Access Intelligence, said Pulsar was the best enterprise social intelligence platform on the market.
“This acquisition will enable us to keep our clients ahead in a world where influence shifts in real-time across multiple channels.
“Clear-cut navigation of global and national issues is ever more critical, made more challenging by the barrage of information across social channels. Organisations need market leading insight and intelligence to cut through this noise to find the information needed. And that’s why we sustain investment in our proposition.
Francesco D’Orazio, CEO of Pulsar, added: “Joining the Access Intelligence Group will allow us to create a proposition directly connecting insight generation and marketing strategy, while unlocking opportunities to reach new audiences.
“Pulsar and the Access Intelligence Group are strong believers in the power of data-driven insights to accelerate growth, and in embedding the audience in every aspect of a company’s decision making. Bringing our companies together will enable us to deliver this vision into the future.”