Browne Jacobson advises LivingLens on $26million buy-out: acquisition demonstrates continued strength of North West tech sector

Browne Jacobson’s Manchester based corporate team has advised Liverpool-based video feedback platform LivingLens on its $26million sale to NYSE-listed buyer, Medallia.

Founded in 2014 by Carl Wong and David Woods, LivingLens is a video feedback platform that captures and analyses video content through speech, emotion and sentiment. The technology quickly translates human behaviours into insights at scale, giving businesses an unmatched understanding of their customers and employees feelings, wants and needs. The data helps to drive better decision making from executives to frontline employees.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Medallia is the pioneer and market leader in customer experience management. It helps businesses understand and manage customer, employee and citizen experiences. Its technology tracks behaviours recorded during daily journeys in person, digital and IoT interactions and applies AI technology to reveal personalised and predictive insights.

The core team Manchester based team from Browne Jacobson advising on the deal was led by partner Peter Allen and included associate Ryan Brown and trainee solicitor Nicola Hollick from the corporate team; partner Andrew Noble and associate Christian Burchardt from the tax team; and employment law expert Ian Deakin.

Peter Allen, partner at Browne Jacobson, said: “It is extremely rewarding to be able to assist a successful North West software business in achieving this exit. The deal is testament to the strength of the region’s tech sector and the quality of the entrepreneurs, like Carl and David, who are at its heart.

“This was a challenging transaction concluded on a very tight timeframe, but the collegiality and effort of all those involved, including Results International and CMS, helped get it done. I wish Carl, David, Dave and all the team at LivingLens the best for the exciting future ahead as part of the Medallia stable.”

Carl Wong, CEO and co-founder at LivingLens, said: “Video feedback is one of the most powerful innovations in experience management today. Video brings 6x more feedback signals than text responses. Video feedback is being deployed across industries. Hospitality, travel, retail, consumer goods, auto, technology, financial services and telecommunications companies all use video feedback to better understand their product, customer and employee experiences in live-time. We are thrilled to become part of the Medallia family and provide our customers with the world-class customer insights they need to transform their businesses.

“The team at Browne Jacobson have been outstanding throughout this process – their work ethic, pragmatic approach, problem solving, and pace enabled us to achieve great outcomes in a very demanding timeframe.”

Chris Lewis, partner at Results International, acting as the exclusive corporate financial advisor on the deal, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with the Browne Jacobson team during this process, as they worked tirelessly at great pace, were commercial throughout in their approach and played a key role in delivering a great outcome.”