Intrepid Investment Bankers, a leading middle-market investment bank, announced today that it acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Ben Crudo Consulting Inc. d/b/a. Diff (“Diff”) on its sale to WPP plc (“WPP”), the global creative transformation company.
Founded in 2011 by Benjamin Crudo and based in Montreal, Canada, Diff is an award-winning developer of tailor-made commerce solutions with specialized capabilities that address the rapidly growing Shopify commerce ecosystem. As one of the leading Shopify Plus Partners with more than 115 dedicated employees, Diff is a trusted agency to large enterprises and high-growth D2C brands, including Giant Tiger, Kith, and Sakara Life, among others. Through its specialties in growth strategy, front-end design, site optimization and system integrations, Diff has created some of the most innovative, complex and high-performing online stores on the Shopify platform.
Diff will join WPP’s Wunderman Thompson Commerce network, further strengthening the agency’s digital commerce capabilities and reflecting its ongoing investment into commerce services for clients as consumer needs continue to change.
Benjamin Crudo, Diff’s Founder and CEO, said “We couldn’t be more excited to join the ranks of Wunderman Thompson, bringing Shopify’s disruptive power to its global client base. Ecommerce has been radically reshaping the way brands bring their products and services to market, and Diff has been at the forefront of this revolution. As one of Shopify’s founding and most innovative agency partners we’re looking forward to continuing to expand the platform’s reach.”
He commented further, “The Intrepid team added a tremendous amount of value throughout the process. Their industry knowledge and relationships across the commerce and marketing services sectors allowed us to find a highly strategic partner with deep cultural alignment to our organization. We are grateful to have had their steady hands guide us through the transaction.”
“We have known Ben and the team at Diff for several years and are pleased to have been able to advise the company on this strategic transaction,” said Greg Passani, Vice President at Intrepid. “Diff is a clear leader in the Shopify landscape, with highly specialized engineering capabilities and substantial proprietary technology. We are excited to see what the team can accomplish as part of WPP.”