Glasgow mobile marketing specialist Digitonic eyes flotation as revenues double

Glasgow-based mobile marketing specialist Digitonic is on track to double revenues to £16 million following another record year.

The firm – founded and led by chief executive Grant Fraser and managing director of technology Iain Wilcox – celebrated its tenth anniversary in April, grew its headcount by around 50 per cent to 45 people last year and is planning further hires over the coming months.

It is on track to double revenues to some £16m in the year to October 31, 2021 following a record year in 2020 when the business generated revenuess of £7.8m. The company also expects to report double-digit growth in profitability for the full year.

Some 95 per cent of the firm’s clients are based in North America, and the firm opened a US office and established a US subsidiary in 2020.

Left to right: Lynsay Thorburn, Grant Fraser and Raymond McGovern of Glasgow-headquartered Digitonic. Picture: Stewart Attwood

With a growing number of clients in Vancouver and Toronto, the business is now looking to launch a Canadian office in 2022. The North American operations will support Digitonic’s headquarters in Glasgow and its UK satellite office in London.

The firm also acquired ValueTheMarkets.com, the stock market review site for retail investors, in 2020 – an acquisition that has helped to drive further client wins. Bosses are not ruling out further growth by acquisition over the next 12 to 18 months.

Fraser said: “Last March and April were really challenging months for the business and our revenue streams were impacted quite severely at the time, so to rebound in the way that we have since is testament to the hard work of our entire team and the quality of our products and services.

“We like being based in Scotland and we’ve proven that we can export our technology expertise to the US and Canada to great effect.”

Commenting on the financial support the company received from Scottish Enterprise during the first few months of the pandemic via the agency’s Pivotal Enterprise Fund, Fraser added: “We had phenomenal support from Scottish Enterprise, we can’t speak highly enough of them, and it was encouraging to see them back a fast-growing Scottish company that is truly internationalising and focused on a specific international market.”

Fraser said the company was considering a stock market listing in either the UK or North America and is also actively speaking to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that could lead to an acquisition of Digitonic.

“While we’re on a track to IPO [initial public offering]-readiness, with a stock market flotation potentially on the cards over the next 12 to 18 months, we have also been approached by a SPAC and we will be continuing this conversation alongside our planned route to IPO,” Fraser noted.

In 2021, ValueTheMarkets.com has already received in excess of two million visits from global retail investors who want information and news on publicly listed companies in order to make informed investment decisions, and Digitonic’s in-house built marketing technology helps the London Stock Exchange, Canada Securities Exchange, OTC Markets Group and Nasdaq-listed companies ensure that their latest news can be accessed by retail investors.

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