The city's innovation ecosystem recorded another successful exit today.
SocialKaty, a social media marketing agency that manages online communities for small to mid-size businesses, has joined Manifest Digital, one of the Midwest's leading design agencies. The merger has resulted in one of the largest social and content marketing teams in the U.S, with SocialKaty's 25 "social assassins" partnering with Manifest's 125 UX experts.
SocialKaty was founded in 2010 by Katy Lynch, a social media expert who has appeared on multiple 'Best Tweeter' lists. Before starting the agency, Lynch managed Where I've Been - Facebook's largest travel application - and helped the community grow to over 10 million members in 2 years. SocialKaty helps companies create custom social content and execute successful Facebook advertising campaigns, applications, and communities. The company has been based in Chicago since its launch four years ago.
In 2012, SocialKaty received $300,000 from Lightbank in funding. This afternoon, General Partner Paul Lee tweeted his congratulations.
Congrats to @thekatylynch and the @socialkaty team on their successful exit to @ManifestDigital! #proudinvestor cc: @lightbank
— Paul Lee (@iPaulLee) July 8, 2014
Manifest Digital prides itself as the largest independent interactive agency that's based in the Midwest and is focused squarely on user experience. The agency has over 15 Fortune 500 companies and has offices in Chicago and St. Louis.
"Adding Katy and her team to our portfolio creates a new team that truly offers the best and the brightest social media minds to our clients," said Creative Marketing President Dan Curran on the company's blog. "This move solidifies Manifest as a social and content leader in the U.S., and together we engage tens of millions of fans for leading brands.”
With the merger, SocialKaty will be able to offer a wider variety of services to its existing clients, including TripAdvisor and CardStore.com.
"Plus the Manifest culture is very similar to ours, so this feels like a perfect fit, where we can continue to offer great service to our clients but also offer new growth opportunities to our employees,” said Lynch.
