Franklin Square Capital Partners Provides $125 Million to Zeta Interactive

Zeta Interactive, a Big Data and analytics company co-founded by former Apple CEO John Sculley, has closed a $125 million round of financing with non-traded business development company sponsor Franklin Square Partners and their sub-advisor, GSO Capital Partners LP, a division of Blackstone (NYSE:BX). Under the terms of the investment, the Franklin Square business development companies will provide up to $125 million in a mix of debt and equity.

“Data, analytics and technology are transforming the marketing ecosystem,” said David A. Steinberg, Zeta’s co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer. “Zeta is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this major shift in how the world’s leading marketers acquire new customers and make the ones they already have more valuable. We are delighted to add GSO and Franklin Square as partners and to our shareholder base. We look forward to working closely with their team as we embark on our next phase of growth.”

Zeta will use the financing to enhance and expand its Gartner Magic-Quadrant-rated platform; grow its market penetration in the US and UK markets; and accelerate the company’s strategic acquisition strategy. Zeta has been an active acquirer in the data, analytics and SaaS-based technology sectors. In the past two years, the company has acquired the marketing automation platform pioneer, ClickSquared, and the Actions division of Adchemy Inc., along with its patented machine learning platform. Adds John Sculley, Zeta’s co-founder and former chief executive officer of Apple Computer and Pepsi Cola, “This investment will help us attract and retain world-class talent, enhance our award-winning technology platform and sharpen our offerings for our Fortune 500 and middle-market clients. This funding is a testament to the great job David and his team have done to date, as well as an indication that even bigger things are still to come.”

“We invest in high quality middle market companies like Zeta,” said Michael C. Forman, chairman and chief executive officer of Franklin Square. “We look forward to working with Zeta’s first class management team and progressing the company’s already impressive growth track.”

Founded in Philadelphia in 2007, Franklin Square is a manager of alternative investment funds designed to enhance investors’ portfolios by providing access to asset classes, strategies and asset managers that typically have been available to only the largest institutional investors. The firm’s funds offer “endowment-style” investment strategies that help construct diversified portfolios and manage risk. As of March 31, 2015, the firm managed approximately $15.7 billion in total assets including $14.5 billion in business development company assets, making it the largest manager of BDCs.

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