Disseminated on Behalf of: IC Group Holdings Inc.
Duncan McCready, CEO of IC Group Holdings (TSXV:ICGH), discusses the company’s evolution into a tech-driven leader in digital engagement, mobile messaging, and risk management — serving top global brands — while highlighting their TSX Venture listing, growing recurring revenue base, proprietary infrastructure, and three-pronged strategy for scaling through cross-selling, organic growth, and strategic M&A, all aimed at delivering long-term shareholder value in the rapidly expanding MarTech and AdTech sectors.
Jim Gordon
Hi, I’m Jim Gordon and you’re watching Market One Minute. Joining us is Duncan McCready - he is the president and CEO of IC Group Holdings. Duncan, welcome.
Duncan McCready
Thanks very much, Jim. I’m really happy to be on the show today.
Jim Gordon
It’s great to have you, sir. Okay, let’s talk about IC Group Holdings.
Duncan McCready
IC Group thrives at the point of interaction between brands and consumers — really to deliver value through marketing, advertising, and risk management solutions. We’ve worked with over 25% of the top 100 global brands — brands like Microsoft, McDonald’s, and American Express — really to engage their consumer audiences, drive sales, capture valuable data to fuel their marketing initiatives, and build customer loyalty. This really demonstrates the value we bring to customers.
Our platform spans mobile messaging, digital engagement, and risk management solutions, which really deliver measurable ROI and peace of mind for our brands. We operate in the fast-growing MarTech and AdTech sectors, both forecasted to grow 14–15% annually, really fueled by the demand for data-driven engagement, automation, AI, security, and privacy compliance.
Jim Gordon
Duncan, can you walk us through your journey and some of the key milestones that have shaped your company over the last decade?
Duncan McCready
It’s been an amazing journey. Having the honour to work with a very talented team, who push us every day to continue to innovate and scale on a global basis. The business began in 1989 as a Lloyd’s MGA, specializing in prize indemnity and risk management solutions for Fortune 500 brands. By the early 90s, we had evolved into a technology-led consumer engagement company. In the mid 2000s, the business was sold. In 2015, I led a management buyout to refocus the business on scalable tech-driven growth.
Since then, we’ve completed several strategic acquisitions, including Fannex. Our recent listing on the TSX Venture Exchange really marks a milestone, reinforcing our commitment to growth, transparency, and global scale. We see a significant opportunity ahead and are confident that our team, our technology, and the execution strategy positions us really well to capture it.
Jim Gordon
Duncan, why is your focus heavily on the live fan engagement market?
Duncan McCready
Great question, Jim. As you may know, live events are drawing record audiences, yet operators are under increasing pressure to meet the fans’ and sponsors’ digital engagement expectations. This really creates a significant opportunity, and we think IC Group is well positioned to fill that gap.
The fan engagement market is projected to grow from $5 billion to $27 billion over the next eight years. With over 30 years of experience engaging consumers for Fortune 100 brands, we see a significant opportunity across all our lines of business, especially in the next 18-36 months. The recent announcement that Apple will support RCS messaging unlocks a huge opportunity for us to expand our messaging engagement capabilities in this fast growing channel.
Jim Gordon
And what is driving your mobile messaging growth?
Duncan McCready
Our growth is being driven by rapid adoption of short codes and rising message volumes, both of which fuel reoccurring revenue for us. What truly, really sets us apart is our infrastructure. We are only one of three Tier-One aggregators in Canada with direct connections to all major carriers, including Rogers, Bell, and Telus. This gives us the ability to reach 100% of the Canadian mobile market.
We are also the only Canadian owned provider offering a solution that processes and stores all message data within Canada. For clients in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government, this provides the reach, the compliance, and the security they require all on a fully domestic platform.
Jim Gordon
IC group serves some of the biggest brands on the planet. How have you guys earned those partnerships?
Duncan McCready
Great question. It didn’t come easy. For the past 30 years, we’ve learned from our successes, but more importantly, from our mistakes, which we own, and we fixed with our brand partners. As a result, we’ve really earned the trust of Fortune 500 companies to manage and simplify the complexities of engaging consumers across digital platforms, social media, and live events.
Whether it involves technology, integration, compliance, or data security, we provide reliable end-to-end solutions that really simplify execution and protect brand integrity. We are an ISO 27001 certified company, which demonstrates our commitment to security, performance, and brand stewardship. That level of trust also strengthens long-term relationships and really creates opportunities to expand our full suite of services, driving lasting value for customers and shareholders alike.
Jim Gordon
Let’s talk about the future. What’s your plan to scale the business?
Duncan McCready
I’m really excited by the opportunity that we have ahead of us. We’re really scaling our business through a three-pronged approach, focused on deepening customer relationships, expanding reoccurring revenue, improving margin, and extending our market and customer reach.
Our first strategy is what we call land and expand. We’ve added over a hundred new customers across North America and Europe through recent acquisitions. We have highly synergistic solutions that allow us to cross sell digital engagement, mobile messaging, and risk management solutions across this client base, which really strengthens the relationships while driving revenue and margin expansion.
Our second strategy is organic growth within our core divisions. Our existing business lines are scaling rapidly. In our mobile message division, for example, we’ve more than doubled message volume and the number of active customers in the last six months compared to the prior six months, which really fuels predictable reoccurring revenue.
Our last strategy is targeted M&A. We continue to evaluate acquisition opportunities that really complement our core capabilities, broaden our geographic footprint, and accelerate our top line revenue growth. Our proven ability to integrate and scale acquired platforms really positions us well to execute on this strategy.
Jim Gordon
Finally, Duncan, why should investors pay attention to IC Group Holdings right now?
Duncan McCready
We’re at an inflection point. Our performance indicators are strong. We’ve built strong reoccurring revenue through mission critical services, and we have multiple levers for growth across all our messaging platforms, engagement and insurance solutions. Combined with our proven operational track record and significant insider ownership, IC Group is a business that’s deeply aligned with shareholder value and really well positioned for scalable growth.
Jim Gordon
Duncan McCready, thank you for joining us.
Duncan McCready
Thank you, Jim.
About IC Group Holdings Inc.
IC Group is a Canadian technology company specializing in high-performance digital engagement, mobile messaging, and risk management solutions that help the world’s leading brands — such as Microsoft, McDonald’s, and American Express — connect with consumers, drive measurable ROI, and protect brand integrity through secure, compliant, and scalable platforms, all backed by over 30 years of experience, ISO 27001 certification, and direct connectivity to every major Canadian mobile carrier.
To learn more about IC Group Holdings, visit their website here.
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