Esendex, the business SMS expert, backed by Darwin Private Equity, has acquired Text Marketer as part of its commitment to lead and develop the business SMS market. The combined business will be able to further capitalise on this rapidly-growing industry, working with an even wider range of customers.

It is the first acquisition following the £11 million management buyout (MBO) of Esendex, completed by Darwin Private Equity in July this year, marking the beginning of the firm’s acquisition strategy and demonstrating its commitment to the business SMS market.

Text Marketer was founded in 1999 to be the supplier of choice for high quality, low cost business SMS. Working with clients such as Sainsbury’s, Land Rover and Bathstore, Text Marketer’s straightforward web-based SMS software has made transactional and mobile text marketing available to over 3,500 customers.

“Text Marketer is an excellent acquisition for Esendex – we have known the company for a long time and their model is complementary to ours,” said Geoff Love, CEO at Esendex. “Text Marketer was an obvious choice. With their impressive growth, strong client base and well positioned price-led offering, we can now serve a wider range of customers with differing business SMS needs.”

“We believe that Esendex can help drive our business forward and offer our clients even more value and opportunities, in turn helping them further boost their businesses,” commented Richard Hawley, CEO at Text Marketer. “Together, Text Marketer and Esendex are best-placed to provide the technology and expertise required to succeed in this growth market.”

“This acquisition signals our intent to lead this industry. Our ambition is to become Europe’s leading business SMS provider and the acquisition of Text Marketer is a first step towards reaching that goal,” Love added.