November 1, 2023: 2X, a pioneer of the marketing-as-a-service (MaaS) platform for the business-to-business (B2B) sector, announced today its acquisition of StraightArrow Corporation, a leading provider of creative process outsourcing (CPO) with operations in Manila, Philippines.
Following a significant growth equity investment from Recognize Partners in March 2023, 2X’s acquisition of StraightArrow represents another milestone on the mission to disrupt the $850 billion US marketing services sector.
The need to transform the marketing operating model is accelerating in B2B as revenue leaders navigate a new-age marketer skill shortage, a customer journey that is increasingly anonymous, a marketing tech stack with greater importance but declining utilization, and a surge in customer acquisition cost. The Marketing Resource Paradox—the problem of not having enough budget, resources, or capacity to deliver the required levels of marketing impact—is compounded by a marketing investment climate that allows for less marketing resources while requiring more revenue impact.
Both 2X and StraightArrow were created to solve these industry problems and to enable a marketing function that delivers elevated revenue impact at significantly less run cost. With the addition of StraightArrow, 2X expands its leadership position in the MaaS space, now with nearly 1,000 employees globally.
Founded in 2010 by Malaya Del Rosario and Haraya Del Rosario-Gust, StraightArrow provides offshore creative and B2B marketing support services to bring marketing strategy to life. With a focus on executing and refining operational processes and delivering world-class managed services, StraightArrow’s 200 specialists service a global roster of clients across the US, UK, and Australia.
StraightArrow operates in four service delivery time zones—US, UK/EMEA, APAC, and Australia—and features service capabilities including creative production, website development and modernization, creative technology management, inbound marketing, project management, and e-commerce. StraightArrow is also a HubSpot Partner and a Google-certified search, display, video, shopping, and apps partner.
“The best part of getting to know the 2X team is realizing that our organizations have a shared set of core values and have the same core purpose,” said Del Rosario-Gust. “We are both growth-minded category creators, incredibly focused on fostering a great place to work for our employees, and totally driven to provide a transformational outcome to our clients.”
2X Founder and CEO Domenic Colasante said, “I’m impressed by the passion of StraightArrow’s management team and can’t wait to work with them as a part of our combined company. And, while 2X and StraightArrow are a lot alike, we have exciting synergies across both firms. We are looking forward to bringing StraightArrow’s services and time zone capabilities to 2X clients and helping StraightArrow clients benefit from 2X’s leading capabilities around account-based marketing (ABM) and intent-driven marketing, marketing operations (MOps) shared services, marketing analytics, and our capabilities with technology platforms partners such as 6sense, Drift, and Marketo.”
“The 2X team is solving an extremely important problem for B2B revenue leaders, and we are excited to continue to back the team’s roadmap to expand value to clients,” said Jack Berney, 2X Board Member and Principal at 2X’s investment partner, Recognize.
2X was founded in 2017 and pioneered marketing as a service (MaaS), a new operating model designed to bring scale to revenue and marketing leaders. The MaaS model covers a full range of offerings, including marketing operations, MarTech management, demand creation programs, digital marketing, account-based marketing (ABM), analytics, creative services, and marketing transformation consulting.
The client roster includes enterprise-sized organizations as well as private equity portfolio companies that require both growth and efficiency in their marketing. 2X is a certified partner of many of the leading RevTech platforms, including 6sense, Salesforce, Adobe Marketo Engage, Drift, HubSpot, Bombora, and Google, among others.
The company is ranked in the top 30% of the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
More information can be found at www.2X.marketing
Headquartered in Manila, Philippines, StraightArrow provides offshore creative services and marketing support to implement other businesses’ marketing strategies. The firm focuses on executing and refining processes relevant to these tasks, allowing its clients—creative studios, marketing teams, digital agencies, and B2B businesses around the world—to focus on developing strategies and attending to their core functions.
With a roster of over 200 specialists and leaders drawn from the BPO and creative industries, StraightArrow delivers efficiency and impact in a range of services including inbound marketing, app and web development, creative design, content development, search engine marketing, and social media marketing.
More information can be found at www.straightarrow.com.ph
Recognize is a technology investment platform exclusively focused on the technology services industry. The firm provides operational expertise, industry insights, and strategic capital to innovative companies in this sector. Recognize is led by industry veterans Frank D’Souza, Raj Mehta, Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman. To learn more, visit www.recognize.com
Jennifer Wang
2X
jennifer.wang@2X.marketing
Audree Hernandez
Jmac PR for 2X
2X@jmacpr.com