Adthena, a Shoreditch based software firm behind competitive intelligence for paid search has secured £2 million in investment funds from famed entrepreneur Mel Morris.

Prior to the investment, Adthena saw over £2 million in revenue growth in 2015, and grew to over 30 staff in London and Australia. Adthena serves more than 130 of the world’s major search advertisers including Toyota, British Gas, ASDA (Walmart), Bupa, Target and AXA.

The investment from Mel Morris will fund Adthena’s global expansion in Australia, USA, Germany and France. 

As part of the investment, Morris will sit on the board of the martech firm, bringing along his experience as the former chairman of global games developer King.com, the force behind one of the most successful (and addictive) mobile games in the world, Candy Crush.

King.com aggressively marketed newer games within the Candy Crush universe in London (credit)

King.com floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and was bought by Activision Blizzard in 2016, with Morris delivering a successful $5.9 billion exit. It is one of the most widely used apps in the world, and is a British success story in its own right.

Having experienced hundreds of millions of dollars of marketing spend in promoting new games within the Candy Crush saga, Morris recognised how understanding where competitors stand and the value of search marketing, a market worth $83 billion worldwide.