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Potato acquired by AKQA

The intersection of data, engineering and creative excellence.

London, 7 March 2016 - GP Bullhound, the technology investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Box of Vegetables Limited, the parent company of leading software engineering specialist Potato, on the sale of a majority stake to AKQA, a WPP agency.

Potato focuses on designing and building complex, secure and scalable web applications. Potato delivers impressive technical solutions for leading brands particularly in the field of Django and Python and its work sits at the heart of many influential marketing campaigns. Clients include Google and Canon. Potato is headquartered in London, with an office in Bristol and a presence in San Francisco.

Jason Cartwright, Potato’s CEO, said: “We are incredibly excited about the opportunities this partnership will create. The intersection of data, engineering and creative excellence is a perfect description of where our industry is heading. GP Bullhound has been a great advisory partner and its relationships in the sector proved invaluable in delivering this transaction for us.”

Simon Nicholls, Partner at GP Bullhound, commented: “Marketing is increasingly becoming an engineering task. We see significant opportunity for talented and fast-growing software engineering specialists like Potato.”

This transaction is GP Bullhound’s 13th digital agency transaction in little over 24 months, following on from those completed for clients such as Essence, Conrad Caine, Designit, Fjord, Glispa, Seren, Realise, TLGG, Somo, Great Fridays and Fetch.

Enquiries 
For enquiries please contact:
Simon Nicholls, Partner, simon.nicholls@gpbullhound.com
Alexis Scorer, Director, alexis.scorer@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
As dealmakers in technology, GP Bullhound provides independent strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions and private placements to entrepreneurs, companies and investors. By combining a true passion for innovation with great access to global buyers and capital across Europe, US and Asia, GP Bullhound has completed transactions with many category leaders including Avito, Delivery Hero, Fjord, King.com, Pingdom and Spotify. The firm was founded in London in 1999 and today also has offices in San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin and Manchester. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com or follow on Twitter @GPBullhound

About Potato

Potato was founded in 2010 by veteran developer Jason Cartwright and long-time business partner Luke Guttridge. Digital media investor Dylan Collins was appointed Chairman in 2012. Potato focuses on designing and building complex, secure and scalable web applications. Potato is headquartered in London, with an office in Bristol and a presence in San Francisco.

About WPP
WPP is the world’s largest communications services group with billings of US$76 billion and revenues of US$19 billion. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising & media investment management; data investment management; public relations & public affairs; branding & identity; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion & relationship marketing; and specialist communications. The company employs over 190,000 people (including associates and investments) in over 3,000 offices across 112 countries. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.

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