WPP, the world’s largest advertising and marketing services provider, has created a corporate venturing unit after buying AKQA for $540m.
Tom Bedecarré (pictured), founder of AKQA, will run WPP Ventures alongside Mark Read, chief executive of WPP’s Digital division and who has previously handled its minority investments.
As president of WPP Ventures and chairman of AKQA, Bedecarré will be based in Silicon Valley, California, while Read is based in London, UK.
AKQA’s roots go back to US-based Citron Haligman Bedecarré that Bedecarré helped found in 1990 and led as chief executive before raising $71m from private equity firm Francisco Partners and management consultancy Accenture, before its merger with UK-based digital agency AKQA.
A source close to the deal said Accenture, which had set up a $1bn corporate venturing unit at the height of the dot.com bubble before its subsequent closure, had “long before” sold out of what is now AKQA.