D.C. legislative and regulatory dashboard FiscalNote Inc., which owns CQ Roll Call, has acquired a English advisory firm — and a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing could shed some light on the deal.
FiscalNote announced Wednesday it had acquired Oxford, England-based Oxford Analytica, which delivers geopolitical intelligence and advisory services. The purchase brings Oxford Analytica’s content, as well as its clients, under the FiscalNote roof, including its daily briefs newsletter on emerging trends and political analysis.
“Oxford Analytica has earned its stellar reputation as the pioneer of geopolitical risk analysis, and we’re thrilled to combine forces in expanding and deepening the reach of our products and services across the world,” FiscalNote CEO and founder Tim Hwang said in a press release announcing the deal.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
But on Friday, FiscalNote disclosed in an SEC filing it had issued $10.5 million in fresh equity, and checked a box that it was being made “in connection with a business combination transaction, such as a merger, acquisition or exchange offer.”
It is unclear if this was in relation to the Oxford Analytica deal. FiscalNote did not respond to a request for comment.
But it could be some portion of the deal, as data from venture analytics firm PitchBook said the acquisition of Oxford Analytica was made via a leveraged buyout that included FiscalNote’s existing investors, such as Arrowroot Capital LP, Revolution LLC and others, along with FiscalNote.
The acquisition comes just a few months after the company announced it had raised $160 million in new growth and debt financing. The funding brings FiscalNote's total raised to date to more than $347 million, according to data from PitchBook.
FiscalNote, which bought CQ Roll Call in 2018, counts Southwest Airlines, Nestle, Trinity Health, the National Education Association, International Code Council and the United Negro College Fund as clients.
The company was approved in April for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, which Small Business Administration data says was for $8 million. Around that time, FiscalNote had laid off roughly 30 CQ Roll Call staffers, according to media reports.
The company had a turbulent 2019, but in early 2020 Hwang said the company was planning aggressive growth. In November 2019, he confirmed FiscalNote had raised $92 million in funding from convertible notes as part of a broader plan he's long held to take the company public.
