Highlights:

  • Benchmark Email acquires Contacts+.
  • The motto behind the acquisition is to extend contact management tools to small enterprises.
  • Texas Capital Bank funded about USD 3 million to Benchmark Email to boost acquisition and development.

Acquisition to extend contact management

Benchmark Email is a leading software as a service provider of sales and marketing solutions to help enterprises of any size. The company recently declared the acquisition of Contacts+, a subsidiary of Denver-based FullContact Inc.

Motto behind acquisition

The motto behind the acquisition is to extend contact management tools to small enterprises as well as integrate Contacts+ with Benchmark’s family of products, including BenchmarkONE CRM, and Benchmark Email. The transaction was closed on January 29, 2021. Texas Capital Bank funded about USD 3 million to Benchmark Email to boost acquisition and development.

Contact management solution

Contacts+ is a contact management solution for teams, individuals, and small businesses to store and sync contacts across devices, clean contact data, eliminate duplicates, and scan business cards. The Contacts+ application is accessible through mobile and desktop. Using Contacts+ mobile application, Benchmark Email could reach the market of Apple and Android users.

The email marketing solution will support and develop the Contacts+ base of approximately 20,000 paying consumers. Additionally, Benchmark Email welcomes vital members of the Contacts+ team to support the Contacts+ suite of apps and play an essential role in developing machine learning, artificial intelligence, and mobile app development for BenchmarkONE CRM and Benchmark Email.

Experts’ view

At Benchmark, Jonathan Herrick, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Relationships and contacts power every small business.” He further added, “One of the stickiest features of our CRM product, BenchmarkONE, is that each contact record has a photo of the contact. Our small business users love that they can put a face to a name instead of working with impersonal data. With Contacts+ technology, we’re excited about helping users of both Benchmark and Contacts+ products augment their contact data even further and reach out to their contacts in more intelligent and effective ways.”

Herrick added, “Professionals, teams and small businesses rely on Contacts+ to keep their contact data clean, up to date, and at their fingertips.” He also says, “Bringing the synergies of contact data and enrichment together with sales and marketing software is going to be a huge win for our small business customers.”

Christopher Harrison, CEO at FullContact Inc., commented: “We’re pleased that Benchmark recognizes the strength of the Contacts+ business, as well as its future potential to add customers and create new synergistic capabilities for the Small Business Market.”

He further added, “Contacts+ is an independent FullContact subsidiary with separate business operations, enabling Benchmark to accelerate on its growth strategy rapidly. This change in ownership also reaffirms FullContact’s commitment to focus on our Person-First, Privacy-Forward Identity Resolution business.”

“We look forward to the Contacts+ customers realizing new value under Benchmark’s leadership. With Benchmark at the helm, Contacts+ has a bright future,” Harrison added.