Vervaunt Joins IDHL

Today we’re announcing that Vervaunt has joined IDHL, a ~500 person group of digital specialists working within digital marketing, eCommerce and technology. This is a big move for us that’s part of a long-term play for Vervaunt, so I wanted to share the reasoning, what it means for us, the long-term plans and why we decided on this route.

TLDR:

• IDHL acquires Vervaunt to strengthen media and strategy capabilities

• Leadership team roll significant equity into the group as part of a long-term strategy

• Co-Founders Paul and Josh join the new look IDHL Leadership team but remain in product-focused roles at Vervaunt

• Vervaunt brand will remain and there’ll be further investment in product and key assets

• IDHL and Vervaunt to invest over £1.5m in AI and R&D to build more IP and introduce product-led offerings

• Vervaunt to open US office in early 2026

Why the move and why now

Firstly, we have been thinking for some time about how to set Vervaunt up to succeed in what is a rapidly changing market, with this largely coming from the development of AI in different ways. We are incredibly excited by the opportunity this change creates, but we are also realistic that the market is evolving and to be the market leader we want to be, we need more capital, more focus on building unique IP for our type of client and more resources behind us. We believe the agencies that continue to grow at the rate we’ve been growing at will be the ones that double down on building genuinely product-first, innovative and focused offerings.

As part of that thinking, we took a serious look at raising private equity money on our own, with a view to building a group of specialist agencies via M&A. We’ve also been approached by many of the media houses, investor-backed groups and larger agencies. But we decided that the best route for us at the stage we’re at is to really commit to a small group with a good strategy and the right mission. The only thing we really cared about was finding a partner where we can play a big role in shaping the strategy we believe in, build genuine opportunity for our team and keep our focus on product and culture, which we see as the foundations of Vervaunt.

Then around 5 months ago, a really interesting opportunity emerged. For context, Lewis and I are and have been very close friends for many years - we chat over the phone about all things digital, eCommerce and commercial strategy pretty much every day and, when he took the role of CEO at IDHL, he started putting forward a really compelling plan for IDHL, which we could be part of it. Some of our mutual goals include accelerating in the US, extending our offerings and building real, tangible AI-driven IP. It was not something we were actively seeking at first, but the more we worked through it together, the more obvious the upside became, not just for the business, but for our team (and clients). With this option, we retain a lot of control over the day-to-day running of the business that we as a Leadership team have been obsessed with for the last 7-8 years and it makes it a lot less of an exit and a lot more of a long-term play.

Ultimately, the timing feels right because this is a time of positive change in our industry and we want to be at the forefront of it rather than reacting to it whilst managing growth as a small company. Vervaunt is at a strong size and position to join a larger platform and IDHL gives us the scale, capabilities, and shared momentum to move faster. Just as importantly, it helps us mature and level-up operationally while doubling down on what makes us special.

The market

In my opinion today represents a very exciting but also uncertain time in eCommerce - with significant change likely to take place across the board. I honestly think the industry and service mix will look really different in 24 months and I think our current size (~70 people) is quite a dangerous place to be, with smaller agencies being able more agile around changes and larger agencies being able to assign more budget and discipline to building out IP.

We believe approaching the technology side as a group (and building on what we’ve already built) gives us the ability to create the market leader in both of our offerings and we have budget already allocated to investing in some key areas that I’ll briefly touch on later on.

I do definitely see the market as a huge opportunity for so many - but I think us as a 70 person agency that has grown a lot in recent times is probably not the best position to take advantage of that opportunity fully.

Why IDHL?

This feels like a good point to talk more about Lewis Sellers, who is the (relatively new) CEO of IDHL and also my “second best friend”. I will add that Lewis begged me not to add this bit but I decided to anyway.

Lewis is one of the sharpest people I’ve ever met and we’ve been very close friends for over 15 years, after first meeting at BrightonSEO and bonding over the space we both worked in (Magento, now Adobe Commerce). Josh then became good friends also (somehow even scraping an invite to Lewis’s wedding) and Bethan, Sham and many other senior team members have a strong relationship with him too.

Over the last ~18 months, I’ve watched IDHL change - as they first brought in Ben Wood as CEO and Lewis took more control over the eCommerce side and then more recently as Lewis took the CEO role. I’ve had quite a lot of exposure to IDHL in the past and have always considered it to be a very different company to Vervaunt - however, as the leadership team has evolved, I've seen how the business has changed and is focused on creating a really solid offering, driving culture and building quality. Seeing the addition of companies like MTM into the mix have also strengthened this in our view.

The IDHL route we built out together and the deal structure allows us - in full transparency - to take some money off the table, but crucially retain a significant stake in the group. That means we’re still very much invested financially and emotionally in the growth of both Vervaunt and IDHL and our leadership team want to see out what we’ve been working together as a genuine long-term mission.

In summary, there were a few key reasons IDHL feels like a good fit for us:

• Trust and known quantity: As above, Lewis Sellers, is one of my closest friends and someone I’ve known for more than 15 years. We’ve always shared similar views on how great agencies are built, what strong culture looks like and how to motivate teams. I’ve also really enjoyed getting to know some of their leadership team recently and I think we are going into this with a genuine level of trust.

• Long-term vision: This definitely isn’t an exit. It’s a commitment to taking Vervaunt and IDHL to the next level and trying to create a best-in-class global agency / consultancy and also be able to put more time into what we think will allow us to continue to grow and scale in a new world.

• Investment in innovation: As a result of the CAPEX investment in proprietary technology and also from new M&A targets / opportunities, we believe we can build something amazing and create market-first capabilities in our spaces. This will help us to create value faster, better understand shifts in performance / market conditions and ultimately drive more value to clients.

• Complimentary offerings: The fact that we don’t really overlap at all means that we compliment each other and also assures our team. In the medium-term future, we’ll be looking to use the complimentary skills to help improve the value we can create in individual areas (e.g. training our media team in analytics / tracking or our strategy / consultancy team training other areas of the business).

• The right kind of partner: We weren’t actively looking really (even though we’d been thinking about it). But this opportunity allows us to keep doing what makes Vervaunt special while becoming part of something bigger with IDHL. Working together we can build far more than we could alone.

The short, medium, and long term for Vervaunt

Short term:

Nothing changes. The Vervaunt you know continues exactly as it is with the same people, same clients, same strategy, same energy. If anything, we’re even more focused on being the best in our segment of the market.

Medium term:

Josh and I will join the IDHL Senior Leadership Team, contributing to the group’s overall direction - particularly around product, performance, and innovation. Our day-to-day remains centred on growing Vervaunt, evolving our service offering, and building the team.

We’ll also be opening a US office, which has been on our roadmap for a while. This partnership gives us the backing and infrastructure to finally make that happen.

Long term:

Our ambition is to help build one of the best digital groups in the world - with deep expertise, strong culture and world-class capability across every channel and market. We hope to play a big part in the end-to-end strategy, including M&A direction, product evolution, technology strategy and much more.

We’ve committed to investing heavily in AI and product development, ensuring we stay ahead of the curve and build lasting value. And most importantly, we’ll continue to nurture the culture that’s been at the heart of Vervaunt from day one.

What's next

• Vervaunt and IDHL to double down on technology and AI - this will also be a big focus for Josh and I specifically. We’re working on a roadmap here and intend to share a lot around how we’re approaching and our focal areas.
• Launching a US office (New York) - something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, but was always a risk before. The goal will be to continue to grow in this market (around 20% of our revenue currently comes from clients in the US)
• Continue to invest in culture and talent - our leadership team to work closely with IDHL and our new Head of HR (Issi) to push this side really hard and ensure Vervaunt continues to push development and progression and generally ensure working culture is at the heart of the business.
• Building out new areas of our product - Josh, Bethan and Tom will lead on expansion into influencer and broader marketing areas, whilst also double down on creative.
• Our Leadership team will play a key role in the next phase of IDHL’s growth, including new acquisitions and product innovation.

This isn’t a short-term play, it’s a long-term commitment to building something special and market-leading, both within Vervaunt and across the group.

Quick Q&A

Have you exited Vervaunt?
No. This is a partnership / group play. We’ve taken ‘some’ money off the table for personal security, but we’re now major shareholders and long-term builders within IDHL.

Will Vervaunt start offering IDHL services?
No. Vervaunt will remain focused on what we do best; performance marketing, commerce strategy and technology direction. Where it makes sense, we’ll collaborate with other agencies in the group, but the core of Vervaunt remains unchanged and we’re committed to our position in the eco-system.

What does this mean for clients and partners?
Absolutely nothing changes day-to-day. If anything, you’ll see more innovation, better delivery and new capabilities over time - but the same people and ethos you’ve always known. We’re very committed to trying to manage any impact internally and want to create a better environment for our team, as well as creating new roles and opportunities to allow for progression.

A big thank you to those helped us get to this point

We certainly see this as a stage in the journey, but it is a good time for us to reflect on our team and our clients and all the other people that have played a major part in making Vervaunt what it is.

Shamoli Miah and Bethan Rainford - for those that don’t know Sham and Bethan, they’re two of the most passionate and focused people in our industry, in very different ways - they’ve played such a massive part in Vervaunt getting to this point. Without them we’d be nowhere near where and what we are today and the level of accountability and energy they’ve shown all the way through their 7 years really is incredible.

We argue a lot and I’m sure they’ve both hated us many times through this journey (particularly me), but we couldn’t be more grateful for everything they’ve both done for the company and also for us personally. We fully intend to create a platform for them to progress here and do more work they’re proud of.

Emily Gaffney - we’re so grateful to have our first employee here with us 8 years on and coming into the next phase with us. Emily is one of the funniest and nicest people we’ve both ever met and it’s been a real pleasure having her in the team. So many of our best memories from the 8 years of Vervaunt would be from the early days and I really hope we’re still together in 5-10 years time laughing about the early days!

Tom and Robbie - Tom and Robbie joined next after Sham and Bethan and for a long time we were a team of 7 (the OGs), which was one of our most fun periods! Both Tom and Robbie (who moved on to a great job and remains a very good friend of ours) have been a big part of things over the years!

Josh Hobson (JoHo) - JoHo has played a massive part in building Vervaunt into what it is today, via incredible marketing activations and a great strategy, but also via the incredible Pulse conference and events that are such a big part of our brand. I always wanted to build market-leading eCommerce events for content and JoHo has taken that and created something that I never thought would be possible. I’m excited to keep pushing Pulse and hopefully reach new heights across different markets and platforms.

Tom Hancock - Tom has been a driving force for our paid side for many years and he’s a great leader to the team. Tom has always quietly smashed on and helped to push so many areas forward!

The rest of the Vervaunt team - we’ve always said our team is the thing we’re most proud of with Vervaunt, including the people above. There’s been countless occasions where Josh and I have tried to reflect on success (we as a business tend to focus on the negatives / areas to improve) and we’ve always ended up focusing on how lucky we’ve been to find such amazing, passionate, collaborative and energetic people and I think the collective culture that has been built by everyone is what has kept us all so motivated to this point. There’s so many people we’d both love to call out personally, but we’ve decided not to do that to avoid favouritism - the team can expect lots more comms over the coming days and weeks. Also have to say the eCommerce team are an absolute pleasure to work with - couldn’t enjoy working with a group more!

Others - there are so many other people we need to thank for helping us along the way and really this should be a 50,000 word article. However, we decided just to include some of the people that have really helped to support us.

• Mark Slocock from GPMD - one of the nicest (and smartest) people in our industry and someone I attribute a huge portion of my career to. Couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunities and support you gave me early on.

• The Trippett brothers + BAO leadership team (and others within their team) - amazing partner and we’ve worked on SO many incredible projects together, all of which they’ve absolutely smashed.

• Ed Bull from Limesharp - another of the nicest people in our industry and someone that has become a really close friend of ours and others in our team. Great agency who really care about their clients.

• Martijn and Paul from Ask Phill - two very smart, driven people who are just a pleasure to work with. Hope to do more together over the years and appreciate you always being so helpful and open with us.

• James Gurd - the world’s most patient man. James is someone I first met ~15 years ago and I’ve always looked up to him. Initially I wanted to be a Consultant like he was and then we went on to become friends and now co-host a podcast together (this is where the patience comes in). Looking forward to hopefully doing lots more together in the coming years and appreciate all the support!

• Greg, Chris and Adam from Whanau - new friends but loved working with you and it’s very motivating working with such an experienced and solid partner.

• Luke from CommerceThinking - same as above really. We’ve worked on lots of clients together and again, a very high quality consistent product but we’ve also really enjoyed getting to know you and working with you personally!

• Jon Woodall - Jon advised us through a really key period of Vervaunt and helped us improve operationally and commercially. Jon and I have known each other for a long time and he’s building something amazing also over at Glass Atlas.

• Jade Harvey - Jade has been such an advocate for us even through our tough periods of growth. She’s also given us so much valuable feedback and advice around team, clients and lots of other areas! Jade is super sharp and her energy is infectious - we’d always advocate her to any brand looking to plan or manage growth.

• Kate and Zoe - from Tern - two insanely experienced and lovely consultants that we’ve always loved working with and getting to know. They’ve been real advocates of Vervaunt for a long time and have taught us lots and our team have always loved working with them!

• Piers (and Alex) from WeMakeWebsites - both Piers and Alex (and lots of others in the OG WMW team) were a massive inspiration to us and they were an amazing partner for many years! Piers has also given us lots of great advice going into this and he’s been a great source of advice / guidance for us over the years.

• Nilay, Jussi, Miles, Niraj, Claudia and Mary at Klevu - we grew up with this group of people and they were a huge part of our history. They have been so kind to us in so many ways and we’ve all learnt lots from them.

• Paul Barrett - PB has been a secret weapon of Vervaunt from the day he moved to part-time (previously Business Director) - he’s a super sharp, level-headed commercial guy and he’s taken loads of work that I couldn’t and didn’t want to do (large parts of the DD process, lots of legal things, lots of forecasting etc) and smashed them. Through this he’s been a super valuable asset to our SLT and I would strongly recommend to anyone looking for a business / agency growth consultant.

• Our clients - we’ve been so fortunate to have had such amazing brands and to have worked with so many supportive people over the years - wouldn’t have been possible without them. There’s so many people I want to call here but I won’t in case I miss someone!

• Everyone that has supported us in building Pulse - which we will be continuing to grow as a community event and pushing harder! Pulse is such a big part of Vervaunt and we really appreciate all the support from everyone over the years!