SmartBug Media Receives Growth Equity Investment From ADC

SmartBug Media, a leading inbound marketing agency, has received a growth equity investment from American Discovery Capital (ADC), a private equity firm focused on investing in leading family-owned and middle market companies in high-growth sectors.

SmartBug laid a strong business foundation early on by partnering with marketing leaders such as HubSpot. The agency is the highest-rated HubSpot Solutions Partner in the world, boasting 335 five-star reviews to date according to the HubSpot Solutions Directory. SmartBug was recently named a HubSpot Elite partner, one of only six companies to earn this distinction worldwide.

It was also named the 2018 HubSpot Partner of the Year and was tapped to provide its insight, ideas, and successes to help steer the future of HubSpot’s global partner program and better address the needs of partners across the globe as part of the highly select HubSpot Partner Advisory Council (PAC).

“SmartBug has long been a top HubSpot partner and recently became one of just six companies to reach our highest Elite tier,” said JD Sherman, president and COO at HubSpot. “It’s encouraging to see the market recognize the growth opportunity in a business that delivers world-class inbound marketing and customer experience services built around HubSpot’s methodologies and software. We’re excited to see what SmartBug does next.”

The deal with ADC positions SmartBug to accelerate its growth and to capitalize on numerous expanded opportunities in the inbound marketing services market. “SmartBug is a leader in the digital agency space and a global leader in the HubSpot partner community,” said Mike Denbeau, partner at ADC. “The company has a wide range of unique and impressive attributes that made it an attractive investment for us.”

In 2019, SmartBug was named to the Inc. 5000 list for the third year in a row. The company was also recently named to the inaugural Adweek 100: Fastest Growing Agencies list.