Thame: P2P supports digital marketing agency in acquisition

Digital marketing agency Purple Frog, based in Thame, has acquired Oxfordshire neighbour OXLink. The deal was funded by two P2P loans – one for £100,000 and a second for £40,000 – from specialist lender RateSetter Business Finance.

Purple Frog, a strategic and creative digital marketing agency successfully built up over 18 years, saw the OXLink acquisition as the perfect way to strengthen its technical web capability. Commenting on the deal, Purple Frog managing director David Finch said: “The OxLink team has integrated well with us and we’ve been able to grow the business far more quickly than we would have done without the additional finance.”  

Purple Frog’s expansion comes at a time when RateSetter’s own research shows that, despite uncertainty created by the Brexit vote, almost four in 10 small and medium-size businesses in the South East are expecting to grow and almost half are looking to improve their business productivity through greater efficiency.

Prior to the acquisition of OXLink, Purple Frog had to look outside the company to source technical expertise on building digital platforms. “Now that we have it in-house, we can respond to clients’ needs much faster”, said David Finch. “We have been able to scale-up the enlarged business by leveraging the two companies’ skill sets and customers.”

Paul Marston, RateSetter’s managing director of commercial finance, commented: “Purple Frog illustrates perfectly the sort of deal we are looking to finance, where additional funds help an already successful smaller company to grow, develop and improve productivity. RateSetter is always ready to back more SMEs with ambitious projects like this.”