Social media company The Social Chain has taken a majority stake in five companies in exchange for shares and cash. The consolidated annual turnover of the acquired companies was approximately €35m (£30m) in 2019. As part of Social Chain , the new brands and companies will contribute over €50m in revenue and over €2m in earnings in 2020.

Social Chain has increased an existing minority holding in KoRo, an online platform offering a variety of superfood products for health and environmentally conscious customers; and in Solidmind, an established supplier of innovative wellbeing supplements and owner of one of the largest and fastest growing cannabidiol brands in the German-speaking regions. Social Chain has also acquired Urbanara, an interior brand company using natural materials to create modern home accessories.

Two further acquisitions strengthen Social Chain in the areas of media, data and customer acquisition. Social Chain has acquired Conteam:Below, one of Germanys largest owner-operated digital marketing agencies, and drtv.agency, a performance-based TV ad agency which utilises proprietary technology and data to optimise customer acquisition provide greater clarity on ROI from media spend. These acquisitions will provide data for Social Chain ’s technology platform LINKS, and additional marketing expertise and geographic capabilities for Social Chain s owned brands.

“Social Chain is becoming a global leader in building and scaling owned social-first brands and disruptive social-first media and marketing services,” said Social Chain co-CEO and co-founder, Steven Bartlett. “These strategic acquisitions allow us to continue laying the important and necessary foundations in order to deliver our ambitious global vision. Today’s announcement is one of many steps we intend on taking to further accelerate our growth in 2020.”