lSMG – a global cybersecurity education and intelligence group -announces majority stake acquisition in the Israeli marketing agency Xtra-Mile. ISMG is expected to invest more than NIS 200 M in the local market by 2025
Following the acquisition, Xtra Mile will significantly grow its global activities and provide employment opportunities to hundreds of people, specializing in the new marketing and new media domain
Information Security Media Group Corp. (ISMG) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a majority stake in Xtra-Mile — an Israel-headquartered, B2B lifecycle marketing company.
Founded in 2007 by Erez Raz and Sharon Israel, Xtra-Mile provides 360-degree digital and media marketing solutions and advisory services to leading customers in Hi-Tech, medical, pharma, cybersecurity, and IT domains across Israel, Europe, and the United States.
ISMG is a global education and intelligence company focused on cybersecurity that specializes in media, events, training and education, and marketing advisory solutions for its customers in the main sectors, finance, health, public sector etc. The company has subsidiaries and branches throughout the US, Europe and Asia. Following the acquisition, Erez Raz and Sharon Israel will join the ISMG senior leadership team.
The acquisition will bolster the services offered through ISMG’s CyberTheory business unit – in marketing automation, and mar-tech stack development – with a focus on emerging cybersecurity vendors who are just beginning their digital marketing journeys.
Concurrently, it also enhances Xtra-Mile’s ability to assist brands in breaking into global markets and offer enhanced messaging platform development and validation, persona targeting, and content development services to its clients by leveraging ISMG’s first-party intent data.
This is the second acquisition announced in the last two months by ISMG. The company also announced a majority stake acquisition in Grey Head Media in April 2022. This deal is a continuation of ISMG’s strategy to extend the firm’s leadership via a ‘build, grow, and acquire’ strategy, to consolidate a significant presence in every major cybersecurity hub worldwide.
This is the first investment for lSMG in Israel, and through Xtra Mile the company intends to grow substantially its cyber related solutions for leading Israeli cyber companies and also to invest in new lines of business added by Xtra Mile to the company’s portfolio, such as employer branding, impact marketing, marketing automation, influencers and thought leaders’ management, social media channels management, etc.
lSMG group intends to invest app NIS 200 million in Israel, by 2025, mainly through Xtra Mile’s activities.
“We have experienced significant growth in the past 2 years, and were in search of ways to grow our unique lifecycle marketing model to new global markets. Says Sharon Israel, Co-founder and CEO at Xtra Mile. “The conclusion of this transaction is a landmark event in Xtra-Mile’s 16-year journey, and we are thoroughly excited by the synergies and tremendous opportunities for global expansion. Given Israel’s strong position as a global cybersecurity hub, we feel this is a natural move for ISMG to invest in the country, and we welcome the commitment.”
“Since our founding 16 years ago, ISMG has proudly served the cybersecurity ecosystem in Israel. This move enables us to realize our goal of having a major presence in every global cybersecurity hub and serve our clients with team members on the ground,” said Sanjay Kalra, CEO at ISMG. “The addition of Xtra-Mile’s capabilities will also support us in catering to the needs of the global cybersecurity community better. We are delighted with our first investment in Israel and welcome Xtra-Mile into the global ISMG family!”
Israel has a thriving cybersecurity ecosystem, and as of Q1 2022 data from Israel’s national cyber directorate, 33% of the world’s cybersecurity unicorns — companies with more than $1 billion valuation — are Israeli, including eleven new unicorns in 2021. Forty percent of private global investments in cybersecurity funding are in Israel, the study adds.
“We have experienced significant growth at Xtra Mile in the past 2 years”adds Sharon Israel. “Through this new partnership we will accelerate this growth and are therefore already hiring at an unprecedented pace in the fields of marketing and employer branding, including marketing managers, digital and digital automation professionals, and experts in the fields of content, social media, community management, creative and design, etc. “
About ISMG
Information Security Media Group (ISMG) is a global education and intelligence company focused on cybersecurity. ISMG maintains the world’s largest network devoted solely to information security and risk management. Each of our thirty media properties provides education, research, and news, specifically tailored to key vertical sectors including banking, healthcare, and the public sector; geographies from North America to Southeast Asia; and topics such as data breach prevention, cyber risk assessment, and fraud. Our annual global summit series connects senior security professionals with industry thought leaders to find actionable solutions for pressing cybersecurity challenges
About Xtra-Mile
Incorporated in 2007, Xtra-Mile is a B2B lifecycle-marketing agency that operates in Israel, Europe, and the United States. Xtra-Mile helps businesses increase customer lifetime value (CLV) while dramatically reducing customer acquisition cost (CAC). Xtra-Mile provides end-to-end marketing services that drive results – from engaging new prospects with digital campaigns to create marketing qualified leads (MQLs), through account-based maximization of sales qualified leads (SQLs), to the retention and increased CLV for existing clients. In today’s transformative economy, Xtra-Mile integrates a coherent system that leverages customer engagement from acquisition to retention and offers clear marketing methodologies and processes that truly improve the bottom line.
About CyberTheory
CyberTheory is a full-service cybersecurity marketing advisory firm. CyberTheory constantly collects and analyzes the latest customer data segmented by security practitioner, industry, and region. Its extensive knowledge model allows personalized targeting of every cybersecurity buyer persona. With strategic insights from global education services, media providers, intelligence analysts, journalists, and executive leaders, CyberTheory is always adapting to the latest industry trends.
