Influencer Marketing Firm Later Acquires Mavely for $250 Million

Private equity-backed Later said that it plans to acquire influencer marketing firm Mavely in a cash and equity deal valued at $250 million.

Later manages social media and influencer campaigns where creators receive commissions for posting sponsored content. Mavely runs a network of 120,000 creators that work with 1,400 brands and retailers like Nike and Macy’s. Mavely also has tools that brands use to track the sales driven by influencer campaigns.

This sales-tracking technology was the major impetus behind the acquisition, said Later CEO Scott Sutton.

Mavely’s technology can track the sales of specific products from individual campaigns, he said.

“When we talked with our marketers, one of the biggest things that they wanted to see was bottom-of-funnel outcomes and see the ROI that was driven from their campaigns and marketing efforts,” Sutton told ADWEEK. “As it grows and matures, marketers are wanting to understand and drive performance with greater accountability and greater data—that’s what we’re aiming at.”

Up until now, Later has primarily focused on providing marketers with broader metrics like brand awareness and consideration but has lacked data to prove the performance of influencer marketing, he said.

Private equity firm Summit Partners owns Later and financed the acquisition. Mavely was owned by beauty and wellness company Nu Skin Enterprises, which acquired it in 2021.

Influencer marketing M&A is heating up

Later’s acquisition is the latest in a string of recent M&A in influencer marketing.

Marketers are increasingly looking for influencer marketing firms to handle everything from finding talent, running campaigns, and measuring a campaign’s performance.

In July, Publicis Groupe acquired Influential for a reported $500 million. That same month, Stagwell announced its acquisition of influencer marketing firm Leaders. And influencer marketing company Izea acquired sports marketing firm The Reiman Agency.

Brands are also getting more sophisticated with their influencer campaigns, Sutton said. For example, brands are moving performance ad budgets from programmatic to influencer campaigns, he said. Historically, that money came from social media budgets, he said. 

Brands are also merging their influencer and commerce teams on campaigns that use a mix of micro-influencers and big-name celebrities. While celebrities have a big audience that can get brands’ attention, micro-influencers have audiences that are targeted around specific areas and interests, Sutton said. Later has run more than three million influencer campaigns and uses proprietary AI to model out the performance that brands can expect when working with specific influencers.