TWO of the fastest growing and influential digital brands in Brighton have joined forces.

Brandwatch - the leading social intelligence company in the world - has acquired BuzzSumo which provides content marketing analysis.

Both have their UK headquarters in Brighton.

Giles Palmer, CEO at Brandwatch, said: “Customer and market needs drive every decision we make which is why I’m so pleased to find such a complementary spirit in BuzzSumo.

“It is a high performing and high-growth tech firm that fills an important need in the marketing world.

“Bringing together our strengths at serving either end of the market while maintaining our brands will only bring more value to all our customers.”

BuzzSumo has grown from start-up to one of the most popular solutions among content marketers and creators in just three years.

Director Steve Rayson said: “We are delighted to be joining a company that shares our values and aspirations.

“This is an exciting development which means we can leverage Brandwatch’s expertise, data and resources to improve BuzzSumo for our customers.”

The regional team of DMH Stallard advised the shareholders of BuzzSumo in its sale.

Jonathan Grant, Partner and Head of Corporate at DMH Stallard, said: “This was a deal between two focussed and fast-moving companies which completed within five weeks of agreeing heads of terms.

“BuzzSumo was only incorporated three years ago to exploit the proprietary software platform.

“To complete a deal of this size in such a short space of time is testament to the hard work and focus of the BuzzSumo shareholders and Brandwatch.”

BuzzSumo clients include international brands such as Expedia, Newscorp and TED.

Steve Rayson said: “We gave DMH Stallard the challenge of handling a complex deal with UK and US subsidiaries in a short time frame.

“I am pleased to say Jonathan and the team were not only a pleasure to work with, they understood our needs and delivered on a tight timetable.”

Brandwatch has offices in the UK, US, Spain, France, Germany and Latin America.

BuzzSumo provides data-driven content discovery and performance analytics to nearly 3,400 customers and over 300,000 users worldwide including Expedia, BuzzFeed and Disney.