NYC based agency KBS (kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners) has acquired a majority stake in Albion, an integrated marketing agency based in London. Normally we would pass over such news as irrelevant to the tech scene, but KBS operates a venture arm which invests in startups. As a result of the investment, KBS plans to expand its Ventures unit to London, to be overseen by Albion founder and CEO Jason Goodman, to build out a platform for Albion’s continuing investments in European startups. Albion already holds equity in clients Chemist Direct and Trillion Fund, while Goodman is a serial angel investor with a portfolio that includes Brainient, Kano, Soluto and Abes Market.
Albion has been an agency of record for many of the most successful tech businesses to emerge from Europe including Skype, King, Zoopla, Betfair, Wonga, Funding Circle, Transferwise, Klarna, JustGiving and Seedrs.
In other words, it’s grown alongside its big European tech clients, invested in a few and is now bringing a further source of investment into the European ecosystem.