The Brandtech Group acquires Jellyfish as it makes push in generative AI

The Brandtech Group, a global marketing tech group, acquired digital media and marketing group Jellyfish as it looks to continue to grow its tech tools, including Web3 and AI. 

Jellyfish was founded in 2005 and has grown to comprise more than 2,000 employees across 38 offices. Its primary appeal to The Brandtech Group is its offerings in digital media, said David Jones, CEO and founder of The Brandtech Group. Other appealing factors included Jellyfish's global presence and platform-first model.

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Jellyfish could also help The Brandtech Group grow its business through technological tools such as Web3 and AI.

“One of the skillsets of Jellyfish is in its ability to train, and we think the world needs loads of training when it comes to generative AI,” said Jones.

Jones, the former Havas Global CEO, founded The Brandtech Group in 2015 as You & Mr Jones, but rebranded the company to its current name in early 2022. 

Rob Pierre, co-founder and CEO of Jellyfish, will move to a newly created position as chair of Jellyfish. In the role, he will work alongside Jones on mergers and acquisitions in order to scale Jellyfish’s global presence. Jones will maintain his current position.

Meanwhile, Nick Emery, founding partner and CEO of Brandtech Media—a subsidiary of The Brandtech Group—will become Jellyfish’s CEO. He will also sit on Jellyfish’s newly created board, along with Pierre, Jones and several others. Emery, who previously worked as CEO of Mindshare, assumes his new role immediately.

The deal consummates talks that began last fall between The Brandtech Group and Fimalac, a French holding company that acquired a majority stake in Jellyfish in 2019 worth $500 million. Jones confirmed with Ad Age that the new acquisition was worth at least that much.