The Background In order for a company to be successful on the market in the long term, it must listen to its customers and seek a direct exchange with them. Nowadays, this means that companies have to study the Internet and social media to know what goes down well with customers and what does not; what is praised and what is criticized. In order not to miss current discussions about the company, brands, services or products, one cannot ignore an intensive monitoring that goes far beyond automatic notifications and alerts.

The Deal The Swedish company Mynewsdesk has successfully acquired Mention, the SaaS-based Monitoring provider. IEG – Investment Banking Group, under the leadership of Stefan Heilmann, has acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Mynewsdesk and its parent company NHST Media Group. Heiko Scheller, Associate at IEG - Investment Banking Group emphasized about the deal: “Mention and Mynewsdesk create an unrivalled combined offering for small and medium sized businesses, positioning Mynewsdesk as the global leader in PR & Communications solutions for this segment.”

The Partner Mynewsdesk was founded in Sweden in 2003 by journalists and web-enthusiasts. It is now serving over 100,000 communicators from over 5,000 brands in more than 100 countries. The platform allows communicators to take control of their digital PR efforts. From media monitoring, publishing brand stories to connecting with journalists and analysing their results, it is an all-in-one digital platform that improves workflow efficiency for PR and communications professionals. From social media to PR mentions, user reviews to blog comments, Mention helps leading brands track the most important conversations about their brand, competitors, and industry online. Founded in 2012, Mention’s customer base exceeded 700,000 users in over 125 countries, with over 4,000 enterprise clients.

The Perspective “This acquisition creates a new global category leader providing best-in-class software for PR, marketing and communications for SMEs. Mention is at the forefront when it comes to monitoring, AI and data-driven analytics with a first-class product and technology team,” stated Mattias Malmström, CEO at Mynewsdesk in their own press release, distributed Friday after closing the deal. Furthermore, Matthieu Vaxelaire, CEO and Co-Founder at Mention, said: “Our strength, which has contributed to our success, is the fact we have identified a strong need among SMEs to monitor digital and social channels. With us becoming part of Mynewsdesk, we can jointly offer even more innovative services to the global market.” Andreas Emblem, NHST’s Head of Division and Chairman of Mynewsdesk, said: “This acquisition strengthens the global position of Mynewsdesk and lays the foundation for further strong, innovation-led growth. It is the result of an extensive mapping of global investment opportunities and reflects NHST’s commitment to B2B SaaS as a strategic growth area for the group.”