Private equity firm Sortis Holdings Inc. (OTC: SOHI) is acquiring digital creative agency WLCR.
The move comes two years after the two organizations launched a partnership that saw the agency work with the investor’s portfolio companies.
“The Sortis team has maintained strong partnership with WLCR since early 2020, and this acquisition comes as a natural and mutually beneficial progression of that relationship,” said Paul Brenneke, executive chairman of Sortis in a written statement.
Sortis invests in profitable consumer brands in hotel and lodging, coffee, food and beverage and beauty and wellness industries. WLCR’s specialty is building digital strategy and e-commerce capabilities to help brands grow.
That WLCR expertise is now an in-house specialty for Sortis, which it says will give its company’s an "unfair advantage" in the consumer market. WLCR founder and CEO Adam Shearer will lead digital strategy and execution for Sortis portfolio companies. WLCR’s creative team is also moving over.
“The ecosystem we are creating at Sortis will allow our united team to intervene at the most opportune time in the life of a business by creating a confluence of the merchant, the money, and the moment,” Shearer said in a written statement. “We are excited to expand our work across the full Sortis platform as it presents the perfect cross section of values and service with brands that are enthusiastic to cultivate and take their impact to the next level through technology.”
Companies in the Sortis portfolio include Water Avenue Coffee, See See Motor Coffee, Bamboo Sushi, Blue Star Donuts and Rudy’s Barbershop.
WLCR was founded in 2009 and has worked with clients such as Nike (NYSE: NKE), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Ticketmaster. The company uses art, technology and human-computer-interaction research to drive the customer experience and solve business problems.
