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Check out the pitch deck that helped PR tech firm Muck Rack nab $180 million in Series A funding
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- Muck Rack offers tools that help PR teams connect with journalists and monitor media coverage.
- The company raised a $180 million Series A round, led by Susquehanna Group Equity.
- See the pitch deck that helped 13-year-old Muck Rack secure its first outside funding.
Muck Rack, a Miami-based public relations software platform, announced on Wednesday that it had closed on a $180 million Series A round led by private equity and venture capital firm Susquehanna Growth Equity. The deal marks Muck Rack’s first time raising outside funds in its 13-year history.
Since its founding in 2009, Muck Rack has evolved from an online database of journalists to a suite of tools that enables PR teams to identify relevant reporters and media personalities, track news coverage, and report on their campaigns’ performances.
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The company reported a 75% year-over-year revenue increase in 2021 and over 300% growth from 2018 to 2021 — increases Muck Rack cofounder and CEO Greg Galant attributes to strong client loyalty and word-of-mouth, as well as the rising importance of earned over paid media as companies are expected to respond to the news and as digital advertising gets harder to measure with the phase-out of the targeting cookie.
“What we’ve seen is the news cycle has sped up so fast that more and more is being demanded of companies,” Galant said. “When there’s a social movement that has to be commented on, the CEO is not going to call the person who does programmatic advertising and say, ‘What do I say about this on social media?'”
Muck Rack is trying to simplify the work of communications chiefs in an increasingly data-driven and real-time PR environment, he said. According to Galant, the company already has “great win rates” against legacy competitors like Cision and Meltwater, and now sees Microsoft Excel as its next rival as it works to centralize PR data management within its platform.
After going it alone for many years, Galant said now was the right time to accept outside funding as the company looks to scale.
Meanwhile, Susquehanna has been pursuing the SaaS company for around three and a half years, managing director Josh Elser told Insider. The investment firm was impressed by Muck Rack’s profitability and its tight integration of databases and media monitoring tools.
“We really felt like Muck Rack had the best product and the potential to be the best suite on the earned media side,” said Elser, who will join Muck Rack’s board, along with Susquehanna managing director Scott Feldman.
Muck Rack plans to use the new funding to strengthen the services that are popular with its clients — which include companies like Taco Bell, Pfizer, and JP Morgan Chase and agencies including Weber Shandwick, Ketchum, and MSL. It intends to roll out an API of its media analytics dashboards that can integrate into existing marketing tools. It also plans to expand globally and add 100 employees to its 200-plus staff by year’s end.
Check out the key slides from Muck Rack’s Series A investor pitch deck below:
Muck Rack pitches itself as a “public relations management” company.
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Muck Rack says that public relations is becoming more complex and that earned media has taken over as a leading marketing strategy.
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Muck Rack notes three issues relating to public relations’ growing complexity: the need to manage brand perception, the failure of its legacy competitors to deliver integrated PR software, and the importance of connecting PR professionals with media personalities beyond journalists, like podcasters and newsletter writers.
It also claims that earned media has trumped paid media as a leading marketing strategy, citing data stating that authenticity is valued by 90% of people and paid media is considered the least trusted form of content.
Muck Rack promotes itself as a tool for both PR teams and journalists.
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Journalists and other content creators can use Muck Rack to catalog their work, while Muck Rack lets PR team find journalists, pitch them, and track and analyze their coverage.
Muck Rack claims to be the only fully integrated public relations management software.
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Muck Rack is trying to solve for low quality data, manual workflows, disorganized news tracking, and siloed knowledge.
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Muck Rack says it has attracted clients from rival vendors through better media intelligence and a streamlined user experience.
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Spotify, Pfizer, Uber, and Samsung are among Muck Rack’s clients.
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Verizon, Syneos Health, and Taco Bell execs offered praise for Muck Rack’s services.
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