SEEN Group, a marketing specialist for the beauty and wellness sectors, has announced a strategic growth investment from private equity firm Rockpool Investments. Formerly a division of The Casbah Group, the investment marks a major pivot as the agency scales its technology-driven integrated business of influence model.
"The most valuable thing we can do with this capital is remove the operational friction, focus the best talent in the business on the work they are genuinely brilliant at which will unquestionably unlock innovation adding more value to our clients and our community—that is truly where the magic happens," says Jane Walsh, CEO, SEEN Group. "No one tool or one capability in isolation, but in the compounding effect of a team that is operating at its fullest. Clients feel that. The community feels that. The quality of the work reflects it."
She adds, "We are most focused on building the kind of business where our people spend the majority of their time doing what only they can do. Everything else should be working around them, not the other way around."
The centerpiece of this next phase is Community X SEEN (CXS), the group’s proprietary influencer platform dedicated to micro- and nano-creators. CXS has transitioned from a niche offering to a primary revenue driver, jumping from 4% of total revenue in 2022 to 29% in 2025.
The platform currently hosts over 40,000 creators with a collective reach of nearly 1 billion beauty-engaged consumers.
The capital will be used to accelerate the CXS roadmap, integrating new capabilities and technological tools to drive value in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
"The growth from 4% to 29% of revenue has been driven by the community itself, 40,000+ creators across global markets generating real behavioral data around beauty trends, campaign performance, and audience resonance," says Walsh. "The next phase is about making that data work harder. We're investing in tooling that surfaces predictive insight, identifies and broadens the community and helps brand partners understand not just who performed, but why, and what that signals for future. The honest differentiator for CXS isn't the AI layer itself, it's the quality and specificity of the beauty-native data underneath it."
Walsh adds, "We are also mindful that the AI landscape is moving at a pace that is genuinely unprecedented. It is reshaping almost every touchpoint of the marketing funnel, from discovery and content creation through to measurement and attribution, and that evolution is not slowing down. We don't pretend to have all the answers, nor should any platform claim to. What we do commit to is staying agile, watching where the important shifts are happening and building CXS innovations that respond quickly and intelligently to support both the creators within the community and our brand partners. Our community of creators is itself a live signal of how behaviors and expectations are changing. That keeps us close to reality in a way that desk research often cannot replicate."
As SEEN scales the CXS platform, Walsh is focused on retaining the human element of its talent collective.
"What we have built at SEEN Group is a collective of people who genuinely love and are passionate about beauty, who understand culture and who have real relationships and a strong network—that is hard to automate," she explains. "What technology should do and what we are focused on is removing the friction that gets in the way of those people doing their best work. The admin, the reporting, the contracting, the approvals etc.—let the tech take those tasks."
She adds, "Within CXS specifically, the human element is everything. The platform generates rich data, but data without meaningful observations is just noise. It takes our people to read what that data is actually telling us alongside continuing to nurture and connect this incredible community that we have and continue to build. We also need our team to be available to clients to share strategic and informed counsel and creative ideas with agility to add further value and move at the speed of culture which is they key thing for brand attention."
Finally, says Walsh, "Our ambition for CXS has always been bigger than a transactional marketplace. We want it to be a place where creators genuinely connect, grow and have opportunities. That requires real human intent behind every decision we make about how the platform evolves. We are building an infrastructure that makes the human more powerful."
The agency, which operates across London, New York, and Los Angeles, manages an elite client roster that includes global giants like L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, and LVMH, alongside high-growth disruptors such as Byoma, Fenty Beauty and Monday Haircare.
Under the leadership of Walsh, the business has achieved double-digit organic growth for three consecutive years.
Powered by a female-first collective of more than 80 specialists, SEEN Group was named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in both 2024 and 2025.
In tandem with the investment, SEEN Group has appointed Nancy Cruickshank as chair. Cruickshank brings extensive experience in digital transformation and consumer-centric growth to help steer the group's international expansion and technological evolution.
"Geographic expansion for us is about going where we can serve clients and creators with genuine depth and where the beauty consumer is truly engaged," says Walsh. "With that lens, three markets stand out for this next phase."
First, she says, "The U.S. remains the immediate priority, deepening our presence beyond LA and NYC into creator-dense regions where there is a brilliant, energized community ready to partner with brands in a meaningful way. Critically, our existing relationships with some of the world's most significant beauty groups are already operating at scale in this market. We are not starting from scratch; we are organically growing from a position of genuine trust."
Then, she says, "LATAM is a market we are increasingly excited about. The beauty consumer there is brilliant, dynamic, and deeply culturally engaged, with creator communities that have an authenticity and energy that brands are hungry to connect with. The appetite for specialist, culturally fluent influencer marketing is growing rapidly and we see a real opportunity for CXS here."
Finally, Walsh says, "The Middle East remains on our radar as a market with extraordinary beauty passion and a creator economy that is genuinely compelling. We are watching the landscape carefully and with sensitivity. When the conditions are right and we can show up in the right way, it is absolutely part of our longer-term thinking."
