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You & Mr Jones raises $60m more as it ramps up pursuit of S4Capital and consultancies

David Jones’ self-styled brandtech group seems set on further acquisitions, announcing a further $60m in funding from investment fund Chrysalis, bringing the total of new money raised to $260m since December.

The round values the company at $1.36 billion.

You & Mr. Jones now has 3,000 employees with clients include Unilever, Accenture, Google, Adidas, Marriott and Microsoft. It says its net revenue has grown 27% year on year.

Founder David Jones (above), formerly CEO of Havas, has said: “We’re not an ad agency, we’ll never acquire agencies. We have the technology platform, process and people to deliver all of your end-to-end, always-on content — social, digital, e-commerce and community management.” You and Mr Jones did buy “content” agency Gravity Road in 2018.

Comparisons will inevitably be drawn between You and Mr Jones and Sir Martin Sorrell’s new digital-based venture S4Capital although You and Mr Jones lays more emphasis on technology. Both claim to have minted the phrase “better, faster, cheaper.” The big consultancies like Accenture and Deloitte will also be in their (admittedly rather distant) sights

At the moment Sorrell’s S4 seems to be winning the size race – it’s valued at £2.8bn – although it has the advantage (in this race anyway) of being a publicly quoted company.

But You and Mr Jones seems to have survived the pandemic in good shape too. It will be interesting to see which targets Jones has in mind for 2021.

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