Journey Further Buys Saulderson Media // UK Agency Scales Influencer Marketing
October 10, 2025 by Chris Erwin
RockWater Roundup
M&A analysis of the creator economy to make you a better operator and investor.
Today we discuss Journey Further’s acquisition of Saulderson Media, a gaming and tech-focused influencer marketing agency and talent management company. We analyze deal details, strategic rationale, business models, UK-based marketing M&A, and the growing stack of influencer and social media services.
Let’s break it down…
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–SELLER : Saulderson Media–
Overview
- Gaming and tech-focused influencer marketing agency and talent management company
- Initially launched as a talent management agency, expanded to include full-service influencer marketing
- Founded in 2018 by Suhit Amin
- Based in Glasgow, Scotland with global reach across 18 countries
- 17 associated members on LI
Founding Story
- Suhit Amin founded Saulderson Media from a cancer ward in Glasgow at age 17
- Diagnosed with Stage 2A Hodgkin lymphoma, Amin launched the agency during chemotherapy to channel his ambition of “If I wasn’t alive in a year, I wanted to go out doing what I love.”
- Amin balanced school with building the business and gained experience by volunteer roles in esports talent management
- Amin spotted a gap for creator-first, gaming-focused talent representation after witnessing the disconnect between brands and influencers
- Amin grew Saulderson from a solo founder to a seven-figure agency serving global brands in just three years
Company Highlights
- Database of 47M+ influencers, specialization in gaming / tech sectors
- Executes 400+ campaigns annually, producing 3,500+ pieces of content
- Clients span major gaming and tech brands including Ubisoft, NetEase Games, ACER, and Revolut
- 4x Award-Winners at GIMA
Business Lines
- Influencer Marketing
- Strategy and execution incl gifting, partnerships, affiliate, and brand events
- Includes influencer discovery, creative ideation, and campaign management
- Paid Social Media & Whitelisting
- Influencer content through paid ads on social platforms
- Covers Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Spark Ads, and partnership ads
- Social Media Strategy & Management
- Social media strategy, community management, and platform growth
- Content Production
- End-to-end production: video, photography, design, and live content
- Long-form and short-form branded content across all platforms
- Events & Experiential
- Activations, influencer events, community engagement, launch parties, and trade shows
- Focus on blending live and online impact
- Talent Management
- End-to-end creator representation and brand sponsorships
- Content strategy, legal / financial support, and monetization for exclusive talent
Capital Markets History
- Oct ‘25: Acquired by Journey Further
–BUYER: Journey Further–
Overview
- Full-service digital media agency
- Founded in 2017 by Robin Skidmore
- Evolved from pure performance marketing into full-funnel digital media partner
- 180+ specialists and offices across Leeds (HQ), London, Manchester, and NY
Company Highlights
- Delivered 10.7M impressions for Inspired Taste within 3 months
- Notable client campaigns for Adobe, Marks & Spencer, Dr Martens, Trainline, ghd, Oliver Bonas, Virgin Money, Claire’s, Sky
Business Lines
- Creative Strategy
- Media Strategy
- Marketing Science
- Paid Search
- Paid Social
- Programmatic
- Creative
- Influencer Marketing
- Organic Search
- Technical SEO
- Digital PR
- Digital Experience
Capital Markets History
- Sep ‘25: Acquired Saulderson Media
- Oct ‘18: Acquired MRE, a search consultancy
–DEAL DETAILS–
Overview
- Announced October 2, 2025
- Undisclosed terms
Strategic Rationale
- Accelerates transition from performance marketing to full-funnel digital media partner by bolstering influencer marketing and social content services
- Adds significant scale and access to a 47M+ influencer network, enhancing campaign reach and authenticity
- Expands Journey Further’s specialization in high-growth gaming and tech verticals with clients like Acer, Ubisoft, and NetEase Games
- Strengthens Journey Further’s global footprint with Saulderson’s robust presence across 18 countries, including US and Europe and provides strategic entry into Germany, France, Spain, and Italy
- “One of the biggest challenges facing brands today is delivering authentic reach with measurable impact,” said Robin Skidmore, Journey Further CEO. “This acquisition takes us one step closer to solving that.”
- Amin calls the deal “the perfect next step” unlocking integrated service offerings and new client opportunities
- Aligns with Saulderson’s growth strategy emphasizing European geographic expansion and proprietary influencer marketing technology development
Post-Deal Operations
- Suhit Amin continues as CEO of Saulderson Media and joins Journey Further Senior Leadership Team
- Saulderson operates as Journey Further company under existing brand
–WHAT ELSE I FIND INTERESTING–
- The modern social agency services stack will include influencer, SMM, paid, and affiliate marketing.
- Historically agencies tended to specialize in single areas like performance, creative, influencer marketing, or affiliate.
- But the modern brand marketer seeks a vast array of services, and wants agency partners who can be a full service solution VS having to navigate a fragmented agency partner ecosystem.
- The need for broad service support is further growing and evolving with the growth of social media platforms.
- Therefore, marketing agencies are aggressively acquiring new service capabilities through M&A, to enable cross and upselling opportunities to existing and prospective clients.
- And notably, with the growth of social media needs by marketers, we’re seeing an increasing focus on the acquisition of social media management capabilities (i.e. managing social accounts on behalf of clients), and combining those services with other creator and social-related services like influencer and affiliate marketing. This can be seen in deals like Accenture Song buying Superdigital (our deal analysis), group.one buying Social Pilot (our deal analysis), and Later buying Mavely (our deal analysis).
- Journey Further already has a large stack of marketing services, and the acquisition of Saulderson Media brings significant more scale in influencer marketing, as well as social media strategy and management.
- The combined stack of influencer marketing, social media management, paid social amplification, and creator-led affiliate marketing, feels like a strong competitive position for the next wave of social-focused agencies to capture large budget share of the next generation of social-first brands.
- Continuation of UK-based M&A consolidation of marketing services.
- Today’s deal follows other notable UK-based marketing agency activity, like Brave Bison buying social marketing and influencer ad agency The Fifth in April 2025 (our deal analysis), private equity firm ECI Partners buying a majority stake in digital ad and performance agency Croud in Nov 2024 (our deal analysis), and Whalar acquiring London-based creator talent agency Sixteenth in Oct 2024 (our deal analysis).
- The deal activity drivers are similar to the consolidation happening in the US: strategic combinations enable more cross-selling of marketing services to a larger client portfolio, more expertise and specialization across a wider set of client verticals and geographies, and with the growth of influencer marketing, access to a larger network of creators for scale in influencer marketing offerings
- Further, UK agencies are facing pressure from well-funded US ad networks and marketers that are expanding to new global markets, including Europe and the UK. Scale in service offerings and creator network access will improve their competitive position and help retain clients as global competitors move into their market.
- Growing capital markets activity in gaming-focused influencer sector.
- Saulderson Media is a gaming-focused influencer agency. Other gaming-related deal activity includes the sale of Click Management to Gamesquare last month (our deal analysis), as well as Gamesquare’s recent $70M fundraise in July.
- Further, I’ve been having calls with many gaming-related companies across esports / influencer marketing / talent management over the last couple months who are exploring strategic options. These include divesting non-core assets, to fundraising, and company sales processes.
- Overall gaming M&A activity, like much of creator economy M&A, pulled back from 2022 to 2024. But dealmaking seems to be picking up, and there were some notable sales last year like Loaded buying GG Talent (our deal analysis), and Wasserman buying Long Haul Management (our deal analysis, and we served as sell-side M&A advisor). And of course, there’s the $55B reported take private of Electronic Arts.
- My quick takeaway is that this is a space to watch again.
- Reminder that the macro figures are very compelling – gaming represents $282B global market with high Gen Z engagement.
- Tech-focused influencer specialization sets Saulderson and Journey Further apart.
- Global influencer marketing is projected at $33B in 2025, with the tech marketing segment consistently growing.
- Most leading agencies like Gushcloud, Viral Nation, and Whalar service tech but prioritize fashion, beauty, and gaming first.
- Saulderson’s core difference: tech and gaming are foundational, with 400+ campaigns and clients like Acer and Ubisoft.
- Few agencies offer a dedicated tech talent roster and product-focused influencer strategy. Journey Further now gains this edge via the acquisition.
- This deal positions Journey Further as one of the rare full-service UK agencies able to provide global brands deep, authentic access to tech creators and campaigns.
I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for creator economy and digital agencies. From buy / sell-side M&A and fundraising, to consumer research and go-to-market planning.
DM me on LinkedIn or email me chris@wearerockwater.com
