Private equity firm Apiary Capital has completed its investment into life sciences performance marketing and specialist search engine optimisation (SEO) agency, performance-io (PIO), to support its growth, service expansion and increased international presence.
London headquartered PIO employs more than 60 people globally with teams in the UK, US, India, Japan and South Africa. PIO was the first specialist SEO agency to operate in the highly regulated pharmaceutical space and, since launch in 2018, it has been supporting clients operating in the high-growth pharma and biotech markets.
Working with PIO’s chief executive officer and founder Matt Lowe (pictured), its chief commercial officer Jason Brown, and their team, the partnership with Apiary will enable PIO to continue to scale its global to local enterprise SEO solutions, to adopt and embed its artificial intelligence (AI) enabled SEO services.
Commenting on the deal, Lowe said: “For me it was about time in the market and timing the market… After a long and deliberate process, we are convinced the team at Apiary will be the perfect partners for PIO. They have an exceptional track record, we share mirrored values and they share my ambition to build something new and disruptive in the healthcare space.”
Apiary’s investment will help PIO further expand its footprint in the US, building upon its presence across several East Coast clients, and accelerate its support of clients in Japan after a successful launch last year. As a growth investor, Apiary will also support the business to expand the range of services that sit at the heart of the omnichannel experience and ensure it continues investing in its people, adding to the existing teams and providing opportunities for progression.
Brown added: “PIO is perfectly positioned to grow our market offering in line with the demand from our clients, all of whom are trying to harness new and evolving AI technologies to drive efficiencies while driving growth… Building out our US team will be key to this and the recent hire of Harry Foster as vice president in the US will help accelerate results and impact for our clients.”
The investment was funded from Apiary’s second fund, which closed in 2024, and was led by Jess French, Dan Adler and Ed Leeming, with French and Adler joining the PIO board on behalf of Apiary.
French, director at Apiary, said: “We’re incredibly excited to partner with Matt, Jason and the entire PIO team… We look forward to supporting PIO in accelerating its ambitious growth plans, particularly as the business expands internationally.”
Apiary was advised by BDO (CDD and corporate finance), Browne Jacobson (legal) and DSW (financial and tax due diligence) and RSM (tax structuring), while the management team at PIO was advised by Lincoln International with Harbottle and Lewis leading on legal, RSM on FDD and CIL on CDD.