Baird Capital Invests in Crisp, a Leading Global Provider of Social Media Brand Safety
LONDON, 22 October, 2018 – Baird Capital, the direct investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co., announced today that it has acquired an interest in Crisp Thinking Group (“Crisp”). Crisp is a leading provider of social media brand safety and crisis monitoring services to global brands, media publishers and social platforms. Baird Capital Partner Andrew Ferguson will join the Crisp board of directors.
Crisp is headquartered in Leeds, England with significant sales generated from an established client base in the US. The Company’s strong position in its markets is underpinned by its artificial intelligence software and human moderation workflow technology which combined provide high levels of risk assurance to its longstanding blue chip customer base.
“We are delighted to make this investment and partner with the Crisp team. Adam, Andrew, Peter and team have built a fabulous business and a great platform to scale further from. Crisp’s culture is a strong fit with Baird’s and our global footprint and resources are well positioned to help the business to expand its international capabilities further. Since its founding, Crisp has been focused on digital risk protection in a social media context and is building a highly respected reputation in this quickly evolving space. We look forward to working with the team in the next exciting phase of Crisp’s growth” said Andrew Ferguson, Baird Capital Partner.
Adam Hildreth, Crisp CEO commented: “From the beginning, our mission has been to stop social media content damaging brands, publishers and social platforms. We’ve achieved this by developing a truly scalable SaaS platform that integrates AI-based social media risk detection technology with real-time human intelligence tools.
“Over the last few years, we have seen social media content issues become mainstream, increasingly affecting brands, advertisers and social platforms alike, which has led to significant demand for our services and consequently major growth for us as a company.
“This partnership with Baird is extremely exciting as it will enable us to embark on the next phase of our development, enabling us to continue to grow our service capabilities, as well as to invest significantly in our global sales and marketing teams to further strengthen our role as a leader in this market.”
About Crisp
Crisp is a leading provider of social media brand safety and crisis monitoring services to global brands, media publishers and social platforms. Crisp has been protecting hundreds of globally recognized brands and social platforms for over ten years, including the world’s largest media and entertainment business; four of the top five luxury and fashion brands and the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.
Crisp is headquarted in the UK with offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London. https://www.crispthinking.com/
About Baird Capital
Baird Capital makes venture capital, growth equity and private equity investments in strategically targeted sectors around the world. Having invested in more than 300 companies over its history, Baird Capital partners with entrepreneurs and, leveraging its executive networks, strives to build exceptional companies. Baird Capital provides operational support to its portfolio companies through teams on the ground in the United States, Europe and Asia, a proactive portfolio operations team and a deep network of relationships, which together strive to deliver enhanced shareholder value. Baird Capital is the direct private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. For more information, please visit BairdCapital.com.
Baird Capital Partners Europe Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
For more information, contact:
James Isola
Maitland
jisola@maitland.co.uk
+44 (020) 379 5151
Andrew Ferguson
Baird Capital
aferguson@bcpe.co.uk
+44 (020) 7667 8437