Jellyfish Group secures finance from Barclays

Jellyfish Group, the digital marketing services company, has secured a £500,000 working capital loan from Barclays as it continues with the growth plan it has implemented over recent years.

Starting life as a paid search specialist in 1999 with just four employees, the group now employs 144 staff across three continents, incorporating several different brands with individual specialisms. These include Jellyfish, a digital marketing agency offering services in PPC, SEO, social, creative, training and analytics, Jellyfish Publishing, specialising in subscription campaigns, magazine.co.uk, the UK’s leading magazine subscription site, the WhichOneHowMuch? price comparison site and debt advice specialists, WhatIVA?.

The business has grown organically, finding particular success in the publishing sector, working for major brands such as Which?, MoneyWeek and Dennis Publishing in its early years. In addition, Jellyfish has acquired companies such as creative agency Uncle in 2010 and SEO specialists Weedoo in 2012, to bolster the range of expertise within the group.

As well as providing the overdraft facility to Jellyfish Group and the operations it runs out of its UK headquarters, Barclays has also set up US bank accounts for the US operations, based in Baltimore. This operation has grown from one US based employee to 16 in the last 24 months.

Rob Pierre, CEO at Jellyfish Group, said: “Barclays’ specialist media team show a genuine interest in our business, understanding the working capital finance we need to support all our growth and expansion plans. We are looking to develop all existing digital services across the UK and US, as well as adding new digital offerings to complement performance-based services.”

James Downing, Relationship Director for the Technology, Media & Telecoms team at Barclays, said: “We tracked Jellyfish’s progress for a few years through our association with The Sunday Times TechTrack 100. In a highly competitive sector, they’ve won an impressive amount of business of late. We are fully supportive of this ambitious company’s diversification of services and brands as well as their exciting plans for future growth.”