Ants buys social agency Punchline in its fourth deal in three years

Belgian digital marketing agency Ants is building its group one specialist at a time. Its latest buy is Punchline, a social media agency, and it is the fourth acquisition in three years.

Ants, based in Ghent, previously added growth marketing agency Cosmos Collective in 2023, SEO and GEO specialist WiSEO in 2024 and training business T-shaped Academy this year.

The numbers

Punchline was founded in 2016 and has ten staff and revenue of more than €1.2 million. Its clients include Colruyt Group, Honda, Bosch, Siemens and NATO.

Ants reported €4.9 million of revenue in 2025 and is targeting at least €5.9 million this year. The deal takes it past €5 million. Punchline founders Joke De Nul and Chris Demeyere become partners at Ants, which now has 14 partners and 43 people.

Why it makes sense

Punchline adds social media and community management to the Ants offer, and helps its push into French-speaking Belgium, where T-shaped Academy will start offering training in French this autumn. CEO Jacob Verroken argues that marketing directors want one partner across the funnel rather than a scattered set of specialists. In the announcement he put it simply: marketers want a single trusted partner, "pas cinq agences pour cinq disciplines du numérique" (not five agencies for five digital disciplines).

The structure is worth noting too. The Punchline founders do not step away: they become partners in the wider group, which keeps them invested in its growth.

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Sources: Ants press release