CloudCommerce, which earlier this year acquired San Antonio-based design and web marketing firm Giles-Parscale, acquired local web design company WebTegrity on Wednesday with plans to merge the two firms.
CloudCommerce, a California-based, data-driven solutions provider, purchased WebTegrity, co-founded by Kori Ashton, in a deal valued by CloudCommerce at $1 million in stock.
Renamed Parscale Collaborative Agency, the San Antonio company will grow from 50 to 60 employees, providing an integrated approach to digital marketing, web design, and branding for clients, Giles-Parscale co-founder Jill Giles said.
“Jill will provide that creative direction and vision while Kori is directing strategy for our customers and for the company internally,” CloudCommerce CEO Andrew Van Noy said. “The company will continue to grow here in San Antonio.”
Giles joined forces with digital data specialist Brad Parscale in 2011 to create the Giles-Parscale firm, which specialized in high-end design and branding work for clients in San Antonio and across the country. Clients included Universal Studios, the River Walk, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Hotel Emma, and the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, according to the company’s website.
In August, the company sold the design and online services portion of its business to CloudCommerce in a deal valued at $9 million in stock. CloudCommerce helps businesses acquire and retain customers using data-driven solutions such as digital marketing strategies and campaigns.
Giles remained with Giles-Parscale as its creative director and advisor to CloudCommerce, which is based in Santa Barbara, California. The consumer and commercial digital work remained in San Antonio under her direction.
“CloudCommerce is fully vested in our staying here and growing,” Giles said. “With access to CloudCommerce’s full range of expertise and services, that makes our location incidental.”
The national attention Parscale has drawn since running the digital operation for Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign has taken him well beyond his work for Giles-Parscale. He moved his new political marketing company, Parscale Strategy, to Florida earlier this year.
Giles said she looks forward to growing Parscale Collaborative Agency into an even larger presence with its full-spectrum, data-driven approach to working with clients.
“We’ve gotten an influx of really good accounts, and people are energized by how we can offer everything – the web design, brand, overall design, and digital strategy – in a fully integrated way,” Giles said. “It feels great to be able to do this in San Antonio.”
CloudCommerce set out two years ago to bring in a group of experts through acquisition and hiring to provide end-to-end solutions for clients, Van Noy said. With digital marketing services featured prominently in what the company provides, the WebTegrity acquisition was a natural fit.
“We specialize in an omni-channel approach for a seamless experience, much like what you experience at the Hotel Emma,” Van Noy said. “We help our customers create a seamless brand experience, from the initial interaction with a brand, to how they interact with their digital presence, to what they experience when they walk into a physical location.”
Ashton, who co-founded her small web design startup with her parents in 2012, will be chief strategy officer for the Parscale Collaborative Agency, overseeing the digital marketing while working with new clients.
“Kori and her team bring strong digital marketing expertise to the Parscale Collaborative Agency,” Van Noy said. “Kori is an awesome leader and her services will continue to be provided under the WebTegrity brand.”
“I will bring my 17 years of experience to help clients improve their digital footprint, while Jill will focus on design and branding for clients,” Ashton said.
All 10 WebTegrity employees will transition to Parscale Collaborative Agency in the acquisition. With the company being acquired after only five years in operation, Ashton is enthusiastic about the potential for entrepreneurship growth in San Antonio.
“I didn’t have to leave San Antonio to achieve this level of success,” Ashton said. “We started this company five years ago, and I never dreamed I could sell it for seven figures.”
