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Pigsback secures EUR2.5 million funding
Tuesday, October 30 2001
by Stan Van Haasteren


Irish company Pigsback.com has secured EUR2.5 million in funding, mainly from new
investors such as Xtra-vision and Enterprise Ireland. 

Members of the management of Pigsback's parent company, Empathy Marketing
Limited, (EML) also contributed to the round of funding. However, EML's chief
executive officer, Michael Dwyer, declined to reveal who the specific investors
were or how much of the investment came from the company's management. 





Pigsback.com is an on-line marketing company and is the flagship brand of EML. 





It was very difficult to obtain the necessary funding, Dwyer said. "Given the
current market conditions, it is hugely important and significant that we
succeeded." 





The funding was necessary to maintain the company's staffing levels and to
implement its expansion plans that should lead to profitability in April 2002,
Dwyer told ElectricNews.Net. He said Pigsback.com is planning to open offices in
Belfast in November and will launch its Northern Ireland activities in March. The
Belfast office will initially employ two people. In Dublin the company has 18
employees. 





"I see our Northern Ireland activities as a hugely important stepping stone to
Britain," Dwyer said. "We are planning to open in Scotland and maybe in the
long term also England. But before we move on we want to see that our current
expansion plans are successful." 





Part of the deal with Xtra-vision, a subsidiary of Blockbuster Inc, is a new
campaign that Pigsback.com is currently running in the Xtra-vision video and DVD
stores. "There is huge traffic in those stores and we encourage them to join
Pigsback.com and in return they will get a free video-rental," Dwyer said. 





As a result of the campaign in the Xtra-vision stores, membership is currently
growing by 4,000 a week, the company said. Pigsback.com now has 85,000 members
and expects to have 110,000 subscribers by the end of the year. 



In return Pigsback.com will offer its members various Xtra-vision deals. A
section of its Web site is entirely devoted to Xtra-vision. Additionally,
Xtra-vision will be allowed to use the Pigsback.com database for marketing
purposes. 





"We are both fun brands," Dwyer commented. "Our members love movies and all
kinds of entertainment." 





The agreement with Pigsback.com is a logical extension of the Xtra-vision brand
into the on-line world, according to Martin Higgins, managing director of
Xtra-vision. "This deal represents an important synergy for both companies. In
addition to our initial investment we will utilise our store base to develop the
Pigsback.com brand and database," Higgins commented. 



For more information: 
http://www.pigsback.com.