Marketing firm Afin Technologies Ltd., which started in the U.K. in 2013 and saw its founders and top two executives move to Newport Beach in 2016, this month snapped up coupon promotions firm Entertainment Publications LLC in a $25 million deal that’ll link two companies looking to make a go at next-gen couponing.
The acquisition also comes with an undisclosed capital infusion from U.K.-based Deepbridge Capital to hire more workers.
Afin, a digital mobile marketer offering discounts and coupons, already owns a few brands including SurveyMe and Buxbo.
Entertainment, a maker of coupon books and a coupon app, is based out of Michigan and has a workforce of 77. It operates in the U.S. and Canada.
Founded in 1962, it’s best known for the iconic “Entertainment” coupon book, which can run a few hundred pages and is sold mostly through fundraisers.
“I think it’s exciting for an early-stage, California company to grow with such an established brand like Entertainment,” Afin CEO and co-founder Lee Evans said.
The combined companies will post more than $20 million in revenue annually, the two firms said upon completion of the deal.
Afin’s Dove Street offices near John Wayne Aiport opened three years ago; a team of about 10 are based there, including Lee and his wife, Nicola Evans.
The couple started the business about six years ago in their bedroom in England, originally operating as SurveyMe in the U.K.
The company still has some operations and another 10 or so employees there.
The Original Groupon
“If it wasn’t for Entertainment, chances are there wouldn’t have ever been a Groupon,” Lee Evans said. “And I think the opportunity to merge exciting, innovative technology and the way we go to market with Buxbo with the skill, expertise and curated learning of Entertainment just makes for a great combination.”
Buxbo is Afin’s recently released app, which offers discounts through a social gaming-based platform, meaning users play with other users to win promotions.
Afin and Entertainment had initially formed a commercial partnership to leverage resources as Buxbo was being developed.
“The coupon and offer industry is all about content,” Evans said. “If you haven’t got content, you haven’t got business. We had a look at Entertainment’s content base and it’s the best content in the industry.”
“So we formed a commercial partnership, but it became apparent there’s a lot more synergies between the two companies so I approached the members of the company and said, ‘How about we look at a merger?’”
The two come together with toeholds in different consumer bases as they work together to iterate on the concept of couponing for what’s becoming a fast-growing digitally savvy shopper base.
Bridging a wide swath of ages gives the combined entity an immediate boost in reach.
“Buxbo, because of its very social and what we call tribal marketing angle, has really appealed to the age group under 35, whereas the Entertainment app, because it’s grown out of the book business—which is still around and there’s 75 editions around the country—that tends to have a more mature audience of plus-40,” the CEO said.
The plan now is to grow Entertainment’s product offering in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business channels, according to Evans.
Some 30 or more new sales, marketing and tech jobs could be added to the combined companies.
