KANSAS CITY, MO, UNITED STATES, October 24, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Service Management Group (SMG), a customer, employee, and brand experience management partner to more than 500 brands, announced the acquisition of Bulbshare, an AI-powered platform that connects companies with customers to gather always-on, real-time insights and feedback. This strategic move enables SMG to further expand its industry-leading experience management capabilities while supporting Bulbshare’s continued growth.
Founded in 2017, London-based Bulbshare empowers leading consumer brands like Nestlé, Proctor & Gamble, and LEGO to tap into the collective wisdom of global customer communities, driving smarter decision-making across product development, customer experience, and innovation. Unlike traditional market research methods, Bulbshare’s platform leverages advanced AI capabilities from OpenAI and Microsoft to rapidly analyze real-time complex data from targeted communities. These capabilities deliver transformational impact to traditional brand experience (BX) management, by enabling customer communities to actively collaborate and co-create within key brand, product, and market initiatives.
SMG powers transformative customer experiences by driving actionable insights that translate customer feedback into operational decisions. Through unmatched expertise in data science, SMG provides frontline teams with targeted actions to deliver improvements—amplified by the industry’s only software with a service (SwaS) strategic consultancy—to accelerate customer experience (CX) impact and ROI.
This is the company’s first acquisition since partnering with Brentwood Associates (“Brentwood”) and LLR Partners (“LLR”) in October 2021. Craig Milius, Partner at Brentwood, commented “SMG’s acquisition of Bulbshare marks a significant step forward in our commitment to strategic acquisitions. SMG continues to actively pursue opportunities that will broaden SMG’s product capabilities, data and analytics engine, and customer reach.”
The acquisition enables SMG to offer clients a single source for CX and BX management, focused on continuous optimization of customer experience in combination with customer-driven collaboration and co-creation.
“The combination of SMG and Bulbshare creates a uniquely powerful, holistic experience management model for customer and brand experience management,” said Jonathan Berkowitz, SMG’s Chief Executive Officer. “Together, we will empower our clients with portfolio solutions that drive continuous improvement, breakthrough business outcomes, and deeper, more loyal customer relationships.”
Through the acquisition, SMG gains access to Bulbshare’s notable client roster of leading consumer brands, expanding its reach into consumer-packaged goods (CPG) markets. Bulbshare’s success with always-on, custom-built communities offer significant opportunities for enhanced customer engagement and innovation.
“I’m thrilled about the opportunities that lie ahead,” says Matt Hay, co-founder and CEO of Bulbshare. “By joining forces with SMG, we are entering a new era where customer experience is driven by participation and co-creation. Together, our CX and BX solutions will deliver unparalleled value to our clients, while our EX offerings will foster stronger employee relationships, contributing to our collective growth and success.”
Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Bulbshare.
ABOUT BRENTWOOD ASSOCIATES
Brentwood Associates is a Los Angeles-based private equity investment firm with a 30+ year history of investing in middle-market growth-oriented consumer and technology-enabled business services companies. Since 1984, Brentwood has invested in over 50 portfolio companies with an aggregate transaction value of over $7 billion. With significant experience in both investing and brand building, Brentwood is a value-added partner for entrepreneurs and senior management teams building world-class companies. For more information, please visit www.brentwood.com.
ABOUT LLR PARTNERS
LLR Partners is a private equity firm investing in technology and healthcare businesses. We collaborate with our portfolio companies to identify and execute on key growth initiatives and help create long-term value. Founded in 1999 and with more than $7 billion raised across seven funds, LLR is a flexible provider of equity capital for growth, recapitalizations and buyouts. Learn more at www.llrpartners.com.
James Hays
Brentwood Associates
+1 310-477-6611
jhays@brentwood.com
Read the full announcement:
SMG Expands Experience Management Capabilities with Acquisition of Bulbshare