Meliora Acquires Backchat Media, Expanding APAC Network Into New Zealand

Meliora has acquired Auckland-based Backchat Media, bringing founder Mel Lee into its leadership as an equity partner and establishing the firm's first New Zealand hub, adding to existing outposts in Sydney, Los Angeles and London.

The acquisition gives Meliora, the advisory, ventures and creative firm Clive Dickens founded in 2025, a geographic foothold in New Zealand alongside Backchat's decade-long client book. Since Lee built Backchat from the ground up in 2015, the Auckland consultancy has worked with Seven West Media, Singtel Optus, MediaWorks NZ, the New Zealand Government, Les Mills International and NBCUniversal.

"Mel has built a fantastic business with Backchat, and bringing that strategy and digital performance capability into Meliora further strengthens what we can offer clients across APAC and beyond," Dickens said.

Lee framed the deal as an opportunity to take Backchat's approach to a larger stage. "Backchat has always focused on helping brands and organisations navigate the fast-moving digital landscape with smart strategy, strong storytelling and measurable outcomes," she said. "Joining Meliora allows us to scale that philosophy with an international team that sits at the intersection of technology, creativity and product thinking. I'm incredibly excited to become a partner in Meliora and help establish its presence in New Zealand while bringing our digital and digital performance capabilities into the wider Meliora offering."

The digital performance capabilities Backchat brings are expected to span disciplines including PPC, SEO, analytics and product-led marketing, extending Meliora's existing mix of advisory, creative and ventures services into measurable digital execution.

The deal connects directly to Meliora Ventures Fund One, an AI-focused vehicle targeting CTO-led startups in vertical AI, generative AI and SaaS. The fund has backed five companies to date: IV.AI, Relevance AI, Source, Springboards.AI and StoryDesk.AI. Dickens has described Meliora's purpose as helping "ambitious companies navigate the intersection of AI technology, creativity and human intelligence," and the acquisition places service capability directly alongside that investment portfolio.

The transaction reflects two currents running through the digital agency market: advisory and investment-led groups expanding regionally through targeted acquisitions, and capability stacking, the combination of content, performance and AI tooling, driving consolidation as agencies build integrated digital products for enterprise and mid-market clients.

Integration variables are worth watching. Retaining Backchat's leadership, smoothing client transitions and maintaining delivery quality as systems and reporting are combined all carry weight. Changes to service pricing, SLAs or brand positioning as the two businesses consolidate are considerations for clients and agencies that have worked directly with Backchat.

Lee's own framing sets the benchmark she will be measured against: Backchat's measurable-outcomes philosophy must scale inside a structure far larger than the one she built in Auckland. With Meliora only a year old and now running hubs across four continents, New Zealand is an early proof point for how quickly the firm intends to build regional depth through acquisition.