Mapp Digital to challenge larger marketing companies
Marketing services provider start-up Mapp Digital, backed by Marlin Equity, aims to attract mid-size clients looking for a modular marketing cloud with managed services, but who may lack the skills necessary to manage their platform themselves. CEO Mike Biwer said the company's stack is fully integrated, and comes at a lower cost than rivals, but also admitted "in some cases the platform is not as modern as we want it to be”.

Mapp Digital, the Marlin Equity-backed holding company housing the remnants of Teradata’s marketing tech stack, wants to take some business from the larger marketing clouds.

One way it hopes to get there is by attracting upper mid-market and enterprise buyers like KFC and Infiniti that are looking for a modular marketing cloud with managed services – not just an all-in-one SaaS stack.

Mapp, which launched last fall, aims to be a marketing services provider for clients who may not have the expertise to manage their marketing platform in-house.

About 30% of Mapp’s revenue is generated through partners like agencies and consultants.

“Our competitors do well with clients that have an army of marketers and data scientists who want the most features, don’t care if they use it all and are willing to pay a lot for it,” said Mike Biwer, CEO of Mapp Digital, who joined the company in 2015 when Marlin Equity acquired the BlueHornet email platform.

Mapp claims that unlike established marketing clouds caught in a “feature war,” its stack is fully integrated.

It also says assets like its data management platform (Teradata acquired the Dutch DMP FLXOne in 2015) are more affordable than its competitors’ offerings.

And, should a client lack the resources to deploy and maintain a DMP in-house, Mapp can hook it up with its services arm or partners.

But despite its claims of being fully integrated, components of the Teradata mar tech stack are made up of older technologies like the email system eCircle, which was founded in 1999.

And if Teradata couldn’t successfully pull off a mar tech rollup, how does Mapp Digital expect to get it done?

“I think other things got in the way and [Teradata] never achieved full synergies and the integration that they wanted,” Biwer acknowledged. “Thankfully we’re able to seize that opportunity with Mapp, but we realize in some cases the platform is not as modern as we want it to be.”

With Marlin’s backing, Mapp is doubling down on user experience to make its technology platforms more intuitive.

It also is hiring a CTO with “deep expertise” in machine learning and artificial intelligence and will invest “heavily” in R&D, Biwer said.

For Mapp to compete long-term, it won’t be as bottom-line-focused as other PE deals that ended in divesture, according to Biwer.

“I think a lot of companies have fallen in the trap of having to improve the bottom line at a level that was probably detrimental to their success,” Biwer said. “We want to be a strong, independent business within the Marlin portfolio, but to grow the business as fast as possible.

“We aren’t overly constrained to just trying to drive profitability. We’re more focused on execution.”