Brandwatch Buys PeerIndex In £10m Deal

Brighton-based social media monitoring company Brandwatch has acquired PeerIndex, a London-based analytics company, in a deal understood to be worth £10m.

Brandwatch's customers include British Airways and Pepsico (NYSE: PEP - news) .

Earlier in the year it raised £14m in new funding and its 2013 revenues were around £9m.

CEO Giles Palmer told Sky News he expects to make one or two more acquisitions in 2015, as it builds towards an IPO in two years' time.

Mr Palmer told Sky News: "This is two UK companies coming together to take on the big US companies. Salesforce has spent $1bn (£636m) to create a suite of analytics software. We've built it from the ground up."

Azeem Azhar, the founder of PeerIndex, told Sky News that although he had considered acquisition approaches from other businesses over the last year, Brandwatch was "one of the few companies executing really well. We intend to go out and conquer the market."

Despite an ever-growing tech start-up scene, acquisitions among UK companies remain relatively rare.

"It p***** me off that UK money goes into the pockets of US shareholders when companies are bought by the tech giants," Mr Azhar said.

"Many UK start-ups get sold too early. We should get nationalistic about this."

Mr Azhar said that being acquired by Brandwatch was "more appealing than being a satellite office with decisions being made 3,000 miles away."

The deal is also proof of Brighton's growing stature as a start-up hub.

The average digital company grows by 14% each year, according to Wired Sussex, which promotes the region.

US company Dyn chose Brighton for its European headquarters over London.

In March, a £170m investment plan from the government and local agencies was announced to attract businesses to the area.