Axios HQ Acquires Mixing Board to Expand the Only B2B Comms Solution by, for, and With Communicators

Axios HQ, the leading internal comms solution powered by Smart Brevity® and AI, has acquired Mixing Board, a community of the nation’s top comms, brand, and marketing leaders focused on advancing their industries.

Over the last four years:

• Axios HQ has built the go-to solutions — in software, training, and editorial services — for thousands of the world’s top organizations looking to enhance the impact of their communication.
• Mixing Board Inc. has earned a reputation as the community convening the smartest people in communication, making it possible for them to tap each other’s expertise, and elevating the value of their work along the way.

Over that time, each had a parallel vision: Communication is the greatest competitive differentiator of any well-run organization, and the leaders who invest in doing it well — and instill that skill at every level of their organization — are best poised to succeed.

Now, they have a shared mission: to advance the communication industry, to support the leaders at every stage of growth empowered to do that work, and to elevate the value of the critical work they’re doing.

• Axios HQ CEO Roy Schwartz: “Every organization’s revenue and reputation depend on effective communication. Mixing Board has been able to build a community of the smartest communicators in the nation. Axios HQ has built the tools leading communicators trust. And together, we have unique data and insights that help our members and clients be the best in their field.”
• Mixing Board Founder Sean Garrett: “The modern communicator is the connective tissue, linking fast-moving and ever-changing internal and external worlds. Mixing Board is a special community of wise and generous leaders who turn to each other to navigate this complex and important work. Combined with Axios HQ, we’ll have new powerful ways to share knowledge, skills. and resources both within and well beyond the community.”

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Together, they’re also building an all-star advisory board to shape the future of the communication industry and help leaders succeed in it. Notable names include:

• Shannon Brayton, Partner and CMO at Bessemer Venture Partners and former CMO at LinkedIn
• Bob Jimenez, former SVP of Corporate Affairs at Cox Enterprises
• Geoff Morrell, President of Global Strategy and Communications at Teneo
• Amanda Atkins, Head of Employee Experience at Webflow
• Blythe Yee, VP of Employee Communications at Freshworks
• Ashley Mayer, Co-Founder at Coalition Operators, former head of comms at Glossier and Box
• Clay Dumas, GP at Lowercarbon Capital and former CoS at White House Office of Digital Strategy
• Carolyn Penner, Consultant and former comms leader at Dyson, Vine, and Twitter
• Michael Sippey, Executive in Residence at Reforge, former product leader at Twitter and Medium
• Jonah Seiger, Founding Partner at Fuse, longtime digital strategist
• Caroline Caswell, Marketing Partner at Operator Collective and former marketing leader at Shazam

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Details of the deal: The deal closed November 27, 2024. All of Mixing Board’s investors have reinvested their proceeds into Axios HQ — including lead Bloomberg Beta; Jim Hock, Managing Director at PSP Partners; and Rebecca Reeve Henderson, a leader who’s driven communications programs for Slack, Mailchimp, Canva, and more.

Garrett will join Axios HQ as Chief Communications Officer and President of Mixing Board. His team will also join to run and grow their core communities. Axios HQ will invest in expanding the connections and resources Mixing Board members value and in offering a new layer of strategic support to HQ customers.

• Axios HQ launched publicly in 2021, as part of Axios Media. Its focus was to bring the power of its proprietary Smart Brevity communication methodology to internal communications — helping leaders at thousands of organizations — from American Airlines and WeightWatchers to University of South Carolina and the U.S. Chamber — boost team engagement and drive better business results.
• Axios HQ spun out in 2022, following Cox Enterprise’s $525 million acquisition of Axios Media. The company is separate and independent from Axios Media.
• Axios HQ raised a $20 million Series A in 2023, at a $100 million post-money valuation. It was co-led by Glade Brook Capital Partners and Greycroft partners. Later that year, it exceeded $10 million in ARR — a milestone only 13% of startups reach in their first 10 years. HQ did it in three.
• Mixing Board launched in 2021, to build a community where members could provide support to one another through consultations, workshops, group insights, mentorship, and hiring help. Its eponymous community, Mixing Board, has 450+ senior members and a 1,000+ person wait list. Its community of established practitioners, Comm(s)unity, is 1,200 members strong and growing.
• Mixing Board raised $325,000 in 2021, as a pre-seed round from Bloomberg Beta and others, and has been able to sustain its own engagement, growth, community consulting, talent-sourcing services, live events business, and other defining resources since.