Ruby Agency Group
Building a global marketing & technology group
Partnering with exceptional founders to build for the long term. We acquire, partner with and grow marketing agencies across North America and EMEA, run by operators who've done it for 15 years.
Our agencies
Two agencies. One operating group.
One we founded, one we acquired and integrated. Both run on the same engine, built the RubyWay©. Agencies that join the group run on it too.
Ruby Digital
Performance marketing agency
The founding agency. Builds growth engines for ambitious B2B and high-end B2C businesses across the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Africa. Multi award winning.
RubyWeb
Web & technology company
The group's web and technology company, and our first acquisition. Formerly wedev.africa, now fully integrated as RubyWeb. Design, development and engineering for the group and its clients.
Your agency, next
Agencies that join bring their people and clients into the group and gain the RubyWay©, RUBIX, SEO, PPC, social and web capacity from our global team, and the group's sales, marketing and finance functions.
Why founders choose Ruby
What makes Ruby a better acquirer?
Most agencies don't have a growth problem. They have a system problem. We buy agencies for their people and give those people better tools. Four pillars we are built on, and four things that set us apart as an acquirer.
World-class talent, AI scaled
Our people set direction, exercise judgement and stay accountable for outcomes. AI gives them speed, scale and precision. 95% year-on-year team retention.
Partnership that builds capability
We are the team that stays. Embedded, accountable to the outcome, transferring playbooks and frameworks so your agency gets stronger the longer we work together.
Engineered for performance
We build systems, not services. Visibility, demand, revenue, retention and direction, connected into one engine that is measured end to end.
Strategic intelligence at the core
We understand the business before the marketing. Your agency's model, clients and operating reality shape the engine, not trends or assumptions.
A culture people choose
Top 20 Best Place to Work and 95% team retention. We acquire for people, so the culture they join is the first thing we protect.
Operators, not a fund
We've built and run agencies for 15 years. We know payroll week, client churn and pitch season. No fund clock, no exit deadline.
Acquired, integrated, grown
We have done this before. wedev.africa joined the group in May 2024 as RubyWeb and has grown top-line revenue around 4x in two years.
Flexible deal structures
Outright sale, staged buy-out or a longer partnership. We shape the structure around your goals and timeline, and say plainly what we can and can't do.
Why sell to Ruby
How we compare with the other ways to sell an agency.
Most founders weigh three options. This is where they differ, in plain terms. Where we have a weakness, we have said so.
| Ruby Agency Group | Private equity | Aggregator / holding company | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs the business after close | Operators who have run agencies for 15 years, alongside you | A fund team and an installed management layer | A central corporate team; your agency becomes a line in a portfolio |
| Timeline | First conversation within a week. Indicative offer within 30 days of receiving information. Close within 90 days of a signed letter of intent. | Typically 3 to 6 months of process | Varies; often slow and template-driven |
| What happens to your team | Kept and given better tools. No post-deal retrenchment programme. | Cost base reviewed; roles often cut to lift margin | Centralised functions replace local roles |
| What happens to your brand | Decided with you, case by case. Some brands stay, some integrate over time. Either way your clients and relationships are carried across. | Kept while it supports the exit multiple | Usually folded into the parent brand quickly |
| How long you're tied in | Flexible. Exit now, stay on, or hand over through an agreed transition. | Founders usually locked in for the hold period | Earn-out periods of 2 to 3 years are common |
| Deal structure | Outright sale, staged buy-out or longer partnership, shaped around your goals | Majority stake with leverage; founder rollover expected | Standard terms, often paper-heavy |
| What you gain beyond the cheque | A safe place for your staff to grow, plus RUBIX, the RubyWay©, Cape Town delivery capacity and the group's sales, marketing and finance functions | Capital and board oversight | Shared services and procurement |
| What they optimise for | A people-centric group that compounds over decades | A return on exit within 3 to 5 years | Scale and consolidated margin |
Private equity and aggregator columns describe typical market practice, not any specific firm. Timelines depend on the readiness of information and the complexity of the transaction.
Who we acquire
Ruby does not acquire everyone. We acquire agencies that are ready.
Right now we are looking for founder-led marketing agencies on the US East Coast, with teams of 1 to 30 people, providing one or more of paid media, SEO/GEO, social media, email marketing or creative services to B2B or high-end B2C clients. We also consider agencies elsewhere in North America and EMEA for the future. If most of this describes your agency, it is worth a conversation.
Founder-led
Established agencies with a founder who has built something of value and is thinking about what comes next: planning an exit, or needing a more sophisticated operation to break through the ceiling.
Marketing services
One or more of paid media, SEO and GEO, social media, email marketing or creative services. One strong core service is enough.
US East Coast
Teams based in the Eastern time zone, which gives a full working day of overlap with the UK and Cape Town. We also consider agencies elsewhere in North America and EMEA for the future.
1 to 30 people
From a founder with a small team to an agency of around thirty. Big enough to have real clients, small enough that the founder still shapes the culture.
B2B or high-end B2C clients
A stable, long-tenure client base of B2B or high-end B2C businesses. Relationships measured in years, not campaigns.
Proven commercial viability
Real revenue and a stable book of clients, with growth limited by capacity and systems rather than demand.
Our goal
To become the world's most people-centric agency.
Founders sell to Ruby because of what happens to their people. Culture is not a soft benefit of joining the group. It is the reason our teams stay, our clients stay and our engines compound. These are the commitments we make to every team that joins.
We don't buy to gut
We buy agencies for their people and give those people better tools. There is no post-deal retrenchment programme.
Growth for your people
Training, AI upskilling and career paths across a group on three continents. Bigger roles, not smaller ones.
Remote-first, by design
Executives and teams work remotely across the US, UK, Isle of Man and Cape Town. Trust and outcomes over office hours.
A culture people choose
Top 20 Best Place to Work (Sunday Times) and 95% team retention year on year. People stay, so engines compound.
Our values
What we stand for, every day.
Six values every person in the group signs up to. They are how we hire, how we review and how we decide which agencies belong with us.
Solutions Are Us
We focus on outcomes. Every solution we design addresses a real business challenge.
Better Together
Great work comes from great collaboration, internally and with our clients.
Lifelong Learners
We stay current, so your strategy stays competitive. Continuous learning and improvement are integral to our business culture.
Practical Optimism
We're practical optimists: grounded in reality, but always focusing on opportunities. We approach challenges with calm, focus, and a drive to solve, not just spin.
High Achievers
We set high standards and back them with hard work, smart strategy, and clear metrics.
Revolutionists
We don't just keep up. We challenge the status quo and create momentum. Where digital moves, we're already there.
Case study · RubyWeb
Not an acquisition thesis. An acquisition we have made, integrated and grown.
In May 2024 we announced the acquisition of wedev.africa, a web development agency. It joined the group as RubyWeb, moved onto RUBIX and the RubyWay©, and kept its team and its clients. In roughly two years its top-line revenue has grown around four times.
- 1
May 2024
Acquisition announced. Team and client relationships carried into the group.
- 2
Integrate
Governance, finance and reporting moved onto the group's data layer.
- 3
Augment
RUBIX, the RubyWay© and Cape Town delivery support added behind the existing team.
- 4
Elevate & scale
Cross-sold into Ruby Digital's client base and the group's international markets.
Top-line revenue since acquisition
4x
Approximately 400% growth in about two years.
Announced
May 2024
Now trading as
RubyWeb · rubyweb.io
Team
Retained and grown
Operating system
RUBIX, the RubyWay©
Martin Spautz
Founder, wedev.africa (now RubyWeb)
I'd built wedev.africa over a decade and felt I had hit a ceiling. Two years on, the company has grown, and so have I, personally and professionally. Most importantly, I spend my time on the work I'm best at and that gives me energy.
The Acquisition Integration Playbook
Value is built after the deal, through the engine.
The transaction is step one. Six stages take a founder-led agency from acquisition to an engine that compounds without depending on any one person.
What we stand for
We buy agencies for their people and give those people better tools. We do not believe in more activity. We believe in better architecture. We do not create dependency. We build capability.
acquire → integrate → augment → elevate
acquire → automate → retrench
RUBIX
People lead. RUBIX scales.
RUBIX is our proprietary AI agency operating system. It is more than a production tool: it is how every agency in the group operates. The RubyWay©, our standards of conduct, our data and our culture are built into it. Our people set direction, exercise judgement and own the outcome. RUBIX gives them speed, scale and precision inside governed systems, so teams are more productive, more consistent and spend more of their time on strategic work. Every agency that joins the group runs on it from day one.
Keeps your team
Clear ways of working, visible career paths and more time on work that matters. People stay because the job got better. 95% retention, year on year.
Keeps your clients
Consistent delivery, transparent reporting and the same standard of conduct on every account. Clients see it and stay.
More strategic time
RUBIX raises productivity across research, production, QA and reporting, so strategists spend more of their week on thinking, clients and growth.
How we operate, codified
The RubyWay© is built into the system: Discover, Validate, Implement, Empower. Every engine in the group is built and run the same way.
One data layer
Finance, performance and client data reported on the same basis across the group, so decisions are made on the same numbers everywhere.
Culture and conduct, built in
Standards, governance and the behaviours we expect are part of the workflow, not a policy document. Good conduct is the default, not an effort.
Who you'll deal with
Founders who still run the business.
No corporate development team, no intermediaries. The people who built and run Ruby are the people who will sit across from you.
Justin Lester
Founder & Executive Chairman
Founded Ruby Digital in Cape Town in 2011 and built it into a multi-entity group over 15 years. Leads acquisitions, founder and strategic relationships across the globe.
LinkedIn
Ebert Grobler
Co-founder & Group CEO
Co-founder and the operator behind the group's delivery, people and systems. Globally recognised as a leader for services companies and a 2026 Workplace Kindness Awards Senior Executive finalist. Integrates every agency that joins.
LinkedIn
Francois Herbst
Co-founder & Group CFO
Co-founder, based in the Isle of Man. Leads group finance, deal structuring and the cross-border side of every transaction, from first numbers to completion.
LinkedInQuestions founders ask
The answers before the call.
Straight answers to the questions every founder asks us, including the uncomfortable ones.
Ask something elseFounder-led marketing agencies with teams of 1 to 30 people and a stable, long-tenure client base of B2B or high-end B2C clients, providing one or more of paid media, SEO and GEO, social media, email marketing or creative services. One strong core service is enough.
Our current focus is the US East Coast, where the Eastern time zone gives a full working day of overlap with the UK and Cape Town. We also consider agencies elsewhere in North America and EMEA for the future.
Both are possible. We structure deals as an outright sale, a staged buy-out or a longer partnership, depending on your goals and timeline. We will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do before you invest time in a process.
No. Some founders want a clean exit, some want to stay and build with a bigger platform behind them, and many want a defined transition period. We agree that with you up front and write it into the deal.
We acquire agencies for their people. There is no post-deal retrenchment programme. Your team joins a remote-first group on three continents, gains RUBIX and the RubyWay©, and gets access to training, AI upskilling and career paths that a single agency cannot offer.
It depends on the agency, and we decide it with you rather than impose it. Some brands keep their name because it carries weight with their clients and market; others integrate into the group over time where that serves the business better. Whichever path we agree, your clients and relationships are carried across and the things your clients value are protected. wedev.africa integrated as RubyWeb, with its team and clients intact and revenue around four times higher two years on.
RUBIX is our proprietary AI agency operating system: how every agency in the group plans, delivers, reports and keeps quality consistent. Yes, your agency runs on it from day one. It takes production and reporting load off your people so they spend more time on strategy and clients. It supports your team; it does not replace them.
A confidential first conversation with one of our founders within a week of your enquiry. A mutual NDA before any information changes hands. An indicative offer within 30 days of receiving your information, and a close within 90 days of a signed letter of intent, subject to the readiness of your numbers and the complexity of the deal.
The founders. Justin Lester leads acquisitions and founder relationships, Ebert Grobler runs integration, and Francois Herbst leads deal structuring and finance. There is no corporate development team or intermediary in between.
Trusted by recognised local and global brands
15 years
Building growth engines
Since 2011. Founder-led then, founder-run now.
15 countries
4 continents
Hundreds of engines built across the US, UK, Europe, Australia and Africa.
95%
Team retention, year on year
Top 20 Best Place to Work, Sunday Times. People stay, so engines compound.
Multi-award winning
Recognised in 2026
Gold, Global Performance Marketing Awards. Finalist, Search Engine Land Awards.
Founders only
Founder-to-Founder Confidential Enquiry
Every first conversation is with a Ruby founder, not a broker. Tell us where your agency is and we'll reply within two business days, and talk within the week.
- Discreet from the first conversation; a mutual NDA before any information changes hands
- Nothing shared outside the founding team
- No obligation, no process fees
Prefer email? justin@rubydigital.io