News

Montana-based PFL, a marketing technology company, has secured $25 million in funding. The investor was Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, which is part of Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division. In addition to the funding, Mark Midle and John Giannuzzi from GS Growth will join the PFL’s board of directors.

PRESS RELEASE

LIVINGSTON, Mont., April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — PFL, a leading marketing technology company that is pioneering the growth of the new category known as “Tactile Marketing Automation” (TMA), today announced the next phase of the company’s growth through a $25 million investment from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity (GS Growth), part of the Merchant Banking Division of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. The investment from GS Growth will support R&D, product development and sales team growth for PFL’s TMA platform.

PFL’s TMA platform extends the capabilities of the leading Marketing Automation and CRM platforms to include high impact direct and dimensional mail, cutting through the digital clutter to improve sales and marketing effectiveness. This announcement follows years of positive growth for PFL, whose MarTech business has grown rapidly over the last three years and more than doubled its revenues within the last year.

The market opportunity for TMA is large and growing and inserts PFL into a new business category that sits at the intersection of three large markets: CRM; Marketing Technology; and Direct Mail, Promotional and Fulfillment. Today, PFL is the only company to offer full integration of Tactile Marketing Automation into Marketo, Oracle Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Salesforce CRM, serving as a vertically-integrated one-stop customer solution.

“PFL has a proven history of pioneering creative solutions to support the effectiveness of sales and marketing campaigns,” said Andrew Field, PFL founder and CEO. “Through this partnership, we have the opportunity to continue the innovation and growth of our TMA platform to create truly integrated, multi-channel customer journeys. This investment from Goldman Sachs Growth Equity affirms their confidence in PFL’s leadership in the emerging Tactile Marketing Automation category, and the growth opportunities for our company. We are excited to have them as a partner and look forward to extending the benefits of our relationship to PFL’s thousands of valued customers.”

In conjunction with the investment, Mark Midle and John Giannuzzi from GS Growth will join the company’s Board of Directors. Additional financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“PFL’s Tactile Marketing Automation platform brings a unique set of capabilities to a market that has historically lacked automation, and its solutions deliver significant value and meaningful ROI to its customers,” said Mark Midle of Goldman Sachs. “We are excited to partner with PFL for the next phase of its remarkable growth.”
Since opening its doors in Livingston, Mont., in 1996, PFL has grown into one of the largest employers in the area and has served over 155,000 customers in more than 130 countries. To support PFL’s continued growth, which in 2017 saw PFL accelerate its MarTech revenue growth and add several Fortune 500 companies to its roster, the company recently opened a second headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind., and announced a planned 55,000 square-foot expansion of its fulfillment and production facilities in Livingston, Mont.

About PFL
PFL is a Montana born-and-raised marketing technology company, headquartered just north of Yellowstone National Park and in Indianapolis, IN. We provide sales enablement and marketing automation solutions, as well as printing, mailing and fulfillment services, to directly connect B2B and B2C organizations with cutting-edge solutions that accelerate productivity and drive business forward. Stand out. Get noticed. Drive Results. www.pfl.com.

About Goldman Sachs Growth Equity
Founded in 1869, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division (MBD) is the primary center for Goldman Sachs’ long term principal investing activity. With nine offices across seven countries, MBD is one of the leading private equity investors in the world. Since 1986, the group has invested approximately $180 billion of levered capital across a number of geographies, industries and transaction types. Within MBD, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity (GS Growth) is a dedicated platform for venture capital and growth equity investments in leading companies that have built innovative technology or processes to transform their industries. Since 1994, GS Growth has partnered with more than 200 companies and invested more than $5 billion of capital across sectors including technology, software, media, healthcare IT, and business and information services. GS Growth seeks to partner with strong management teams to help companies achieve product, customer and geographic expansion. For more information about GS Growth, please visit: www.gs.com/gsgrowth.