Mountaingate Capital, a Colorado-based private equity firm employing a customer-centric buy-and-build strategy that empowers lower middle market companies with strong growth potential and engaged leadership teams, is pleased to announce that it has sold its position in Mars United Commerce (“Mars”) in connection with a sale of the company to Publicis Groupe.
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The exit of its investment in Mars by Mountaingate represents another highly successful outcome for Mountaingate’s investors in a tech-enabled and analytics-driven marketing services platform. Mountaingate first partnered with Mars and its leadership team – Ken Barnett, Founder and Chairman, and Rob Rivenburgh, CEO – in 2021, when the business employed approximately 450 individuals. In 2024, Mars will conclude the year with over 1,000 individuals and will have grown well over 200% since the start of the partnership.
Through significant investments in the company’s proprietary Marilyn® technology platform, infrastructure and operations, along with three strategic add-on acquisitions, Mars became the largest independent full-service commerce marketing partner for brands and retailers worldwide. Mars operates in four key commerce disciplines — Strategy & Analytics, Digital Commerce, Content & Experiences, and Retail Consultancy — that together provide all the expertise clients need to navigate the complex commerce marketing landscape.
“It has been a privilege to partner with the Mars team during a period of transformative growth over the last three years. Management’s superb execution of the strategic plan we jointly developed at the outset of our partnership led to exceptional growth and major new client wins,” added Bruce Rogers, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Mountaingate. “Congratulations to Ken and Rob and the entire team at Mars on their new partnership with Publicis Groupe.”
Mars and Mountaingate Capital were advised by Canaccord Genuity and law firm Kirkland & Ellis.
About Mountaingate Capital
Mountaingate Capital is a Colorado-based private equity firm that specializes in partnering with founders and entrepreneurial companies to accelerate growth and build industry leaders. Mountaingate’s focus on organic growth coupled with its customer-centric buy-and-build approach for add-on acquisitions and shared equity ownership with management creates more value for the end customer, while forging stronger, more collaborative, and more successful investment partnerships with management teams. With over $900 million of capital under management, Mountaingate targets investments in marketing services, business services, specialty manufacturing and distribution. For more information on Mountaingate, please visit www.mountaingate.com.
About Mars United Commerce
Mars United Commerce is a global commerce marketing practice that aligns people, technology, and intelligence to make the business of its clients better today than it was yesterday. Its worldwide capabilities coalesce into four key disciplines — Strategy & Analytics, Content & Experiences, Digital Commerce, and Retail Consultancy — that individually deliver unmatched results for clients and collectively give them an unparalleled network of seamlessly integrated functions across the entire commerce marketing ecosystem. These disciplines are powered by our industry-leading technology platform, Marilyn®, which helps marketers understand the total business impact of their commerce marketing activation, enabling them to make better decisions, create connected experiences, and drive stronger, measurable results. Learn more at https://www.marsunited.com/
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