Integrate sets sights on event leads with $34M purchase of Akkroo

Akkroo’s full 50-person staff will join the Integrate team.

Integrate announced on Thursday it has acquired Akkroo for $34 million. The acquisition will give Integrate customers access to Akkroo’s app-based platform that captures leads in real-time at events and feeds them straight to the sales team. This is Integrate’s second acquisition this year.

Why you should care

Marketers tasked with gathering leads during trade shows, conferences or any other in-person event will be able to use Akkroo’s fully customizable lead-capturing app combined with Integrate’s lead validation and processing system. Leads captured using Akkroo’s solution are delivered directly to the sales team via the Akkroo dashboard or a CRM system, streamlining the lead collection and delivery process.

We caught up with Akkroo’s head of sales Ben Hartley during the MarTech Conference in San Jose, where his team was managing Akkroo’s exhibitor booth. Hartley said Integrate had recently conducted a customer survey to find out what capabilities clients would be most likely to use.

“All the customers said they needed to add to the events piece,” said Hartley. According to Akkroo’s sales lead, the two companies spent three to four months testing the waters to make sure the platforms were compatible.

Avalara, a tax compliance software, used both Integrate and Akkroo’s platforms prior to the acquisition.

“Combining Integrate and Akkroo gives us yet another process that we can look to streamline globally,” said Avalara’s senior manager of demand generation marketing Pamela Guyton-Micheles. Her company currently implements Integrate’s solution in the U.S. and Akkroo in Europe for event lead management.

More on the news

• “Customers will understand how in-person events contribute to pipeline and revenue while having access to a best-in-class, global solution for collecting, processing and managing event leads at scale,” said Integrate CEO Jeremy Bloom.
• Akkroo’s London-based offices will become Integrate’s new EMEA headquarters, and Akkroo’s 50-person staff will become Integrate employees. Akkroo founders Chris Wickson and Andy Higgs will both take on leadership roles at Integrate, Wickson as the general manager of events and Higgs as the VP of event products.
• Last November, Integrate launched a LinkedIn Native Connector to scrub leads captured on LinkedIn, and earlier this year rolled out a Facebook Lead Ads solution.

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About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for MarTech Today, Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.