Overview

EmailStack acquires, founds and grows amazing email marketing brands.

Matt & Andrew have combined 30 years in the email marketing industry. We have worked with 1000s of brands on their email strategy. Matt has a successful 8-figure exit selling Kickdynamic to Litmus.

We have three brands/platforms in the group already and they are growing well.

MarTech

The Mart Tech ecosystem, where EmailStack is related, is growing very rapidly and is populated both by medium-small players, focused on specific niches, and by large companies that cover a wide range of the requirements. The current value of MarTech is estimated at USD 670 billion, a staggering 31.5% increase over 2023. Innovations such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation are responsible for much of the growth.

The MarTech sector, valued at USD 669.3 billion in 2023, continues to expand despite economic uncertainties and rapid technological advances. The sector has not only grown in value, but also in size. In fact, the number of MarTech products on the market increased by more than 3,000 units over the last 10 years. The MarTech ecosystem in the year 2024 is populated by some 14,106 tech companies.

However the Martech sector is complex, fragmented and segmented.

In the extremely complex and fragmented context of the MarTech market it is possible to identify 6 main sub-segments:

• Advertising&Promotion

• Content & Experience

• Social & Relationship

• Commerce&Sales

• Data

• Management

Digital marketing professionals need to adopt marketing across various channels to effectively communicate with their customers. Despite the growing popularity of social media and alternative channels, email remains one of the strongest channels and marketing tactics.

Currently, MarTech accounts for about 30% of marketing budgets, and many current or potential client companies plan to increase this expenditure even further in the near future

AI

The main focus of MarTech is undoubtedly the exploitation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) potential. AI is advancing at such an accelerated pace that it's challenging for professionals to keep up. Given the rapid progress of generative AI, we expect this evolutionary process to happen faster than other disruptive innovation adoption curves that marketing has seen so far, ushering in a new era of ‘no code’. Today, new AI-enhanced no-code interfaces allow users to simply indicate the desired result and let the AI automatically manage the steps needed to achieve it.

The interaction between AI and Machine Learning is continuously redefining the boundaries of marketing. Thanks to predictive analysis, marketers can now anticipate customer desires more accurately and refine their strategies in a customised way.

AI and ML automation drastically reduce manual work, enabling marketers to focus on strategic activities. This integration represents a significant shift towards sophisticated, data-driven marketing. AI improves content creation, personalization, predictive analytics, and overall efficiency, offering high value and ROI. It also enables precise customer micro-segmentation, crucial for increasing engagement and brand loyalty. Automation of repetitive tasks ensures greater campaign consistency.

For EmailStack and the email marketing sector there are 3 core areas that are all associated with are part of email marketing call ‘pre-send’ that are vital for email success and are seeing rapid changes and growth:

1. Data

While there’s plenty of data available for email marketing, knowing how to use it effectively remains a challenge for many. Thanks to advancements in AI, automation, and easier system integrations, email-ready data is now more accessible - no matter which email platform you use. These developments allow marketers to turn raw data into actionable insights, ensuring that they send the right message to the right audience at the right time.

EmailStack will buy or found data platforms to make data email ready.

1. Content

High-quality, professional-looking emails are no longer optional - they’re essential. We help marketers create visually appealing, well-structured emails quickly and efficiently, cutting down the time it takes from weeks to hours. Our goal is to empower brands to produce standout content at lower costs while ensuring that the emails render perfectly and offer a great user experience.

For email marketers to be successful, each of these areas must be optimized to ensure emails not only reach inboxes but also achieve full engagement.

EmailStack already owns two products in these area and plans to buy more to help marketers send great looking email quickly and easily.

1. Deliverability

Getting your emails into inboxes is crucial to success. We provide tools that help ensure emails reach their destination and maintain a healthy IP and domain reputation over time. By staying ahead of spam filters and ensuring consistent inbox placement, we help maximize the performance of every campaign.

EmailStack already co-owns a product in this area with a large opportuntity to display the 10 year old incumbent.

Email marketing

Email marketing is a well establish sector with many different platforms and sub-sectors. It is a sector that is ripe for innovation, with a large opportunity to make significant returns.

The email sector highlights:

The global email marketing industry is projected to reach $18 billion by 2027, solidifying its place as one of the top three marketing strategies for brands. As third-party tracking becomes increasingly limited, the value of first-party data, particularly through email addresses, is growing in importance. This shift makes email marketing a crucial tool for businesses to maintain direct connections with their audiences. Additionally, the market is experiencing a trend toward unbundling technology from cloud services, making email marketing solutions more cost-effective and easier to integrate. This combination of factors positions email marketing for continued growth and relevance.

Email marketing is an effective marketing strategy that delivers impressive results, boasting a proven return on investment of $40 for every $1 spent, a figure that is likely conservative. With the cost of sending emails at its lowest point, this channel has become highly profitable. As customer acquisition costs for other channels, such as paid ads, continue to rise, the cost-effectiveness of email marketing stands out even more. Furthermore, as brands face increasing pressure to move away from generic communications, email marketing offers the opportunity for personalized messaging, enabling businesses to engage their audiences more effectively and foster stronger connections.

The opportunity in the email marketing B2B SaaS sector is significant, as it has exploded in the last decade, leading to a multitude of companies entering the market. However, many Email Service Providers (ESPs) have been slow to innovate, creating substantial gaps for other companies to explore new solutions.

The concept of an ESP as a business is over. Sending and receiving an email message (SMTP) is now a commodity. The opportunity lies in utilizing AI to build useful platforms on top of the SMTP transaction that help marketers reach their customers with the right message at the right time.ge.

The opp to buy is large - lots of business in this space are founded by developers who may lack the necessary go-to-market (GTM) strategies, leaving them at a disadvantage. There are also many "ghost ship" companies that generate solid revenues and profits but have over-raised capital, which limits the potential for returns to their investors. Furthermore, founders in this industry often experience fatigue and seek to generate personal income alongside a viable exit strategy, creating an opportunity for new entrants to capitalize on these challenges and reshape the market.

EmailStack

EmailStack is a dynamic company that specializes in the acquisition, founding, and operation of email marketing brands. Our ambitious goal is to cultivate a holding company with a $10 million EBITDA within a decade. By leveraging our extensive expertise in this well-established sector, we aim to identify and acquire cutting-edge technology and high-potential brands. Once acquired, we will apply our advanced AI capabilities and proven go-to-market strategies to significantly boost growth and enhance profitability. Our approach combines industry knowledge with innovative techniques to maximize the value of each brand in our portfolio.

Ideal company profile to acquire

Here is the ideal customer profile of the type of business we are looking to acquire or co-found:

• Is a B2B email marketing business that sells it’s platform to email marketing teams to help them do better email.

• The primary revenue structure consists of annual contracts, with some Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) also acceptable.

• Financial state of the business is that they are likely to close to profitability but need efficieies put in place to get to 30% profit margin

• $1m ARR minium

• I prefer the HoldCo to have full ownership of the company, but are open to considering 60-70% ownership.

• The founder or an operator must stay with the company for at least one year. Or we bring in a MD/CEO to run the subsidiary.

Structure of Holdco

The EmailStack Holdco is a company that owns and operates email marketing companies.

The EmailStack Holdco will run the subsidiaries independently of each other. I predict to have some synergies with technology at the HoldCo level. I also predict that the subsidiaries will have ICP crossover of so will have some co-selling opportunities.

Go-to-market motion, sales and marketing will be managed at the HoldCo level. This is our expertise. I expect to buy email companies that have amazing tech and opportunity, but are falling down in go to market and sales.

Here is what the HoldCo will look like in 6 years

• ARR: £25m

• EBITA: £6m

• Total dividend paid over 6 years: £6m

• Cash to buy other business: £6m

• 3-5 people on the HoldCo team working on capital allocation, GTM and growth