By Lindsay Rittenhouse | July 23, 2026
Raindrop has found success winning agency-of-record accounts by acting not only as a startup ad partner, but an “early-stage sweat-equity investor,” as the shop describes it. In the past five years, the agency helped secure billion-dollar buyouts for four brands that originally came to it with under $5 million in annual revenue.
This has informally been the San Diego-based creative and performance marketing agency’s niche since it was founded by CEO and Chief Creative Officer Jacques Spitzer and Chief Operating Officer Adam Wagner in 2009. In 2025, the shop formalized this positioning with the creation of Raindrop Ventures, its arm that allows it to take minority equity stakes in AOR clients.
In April of this year, Raindrop Ventures closed a $1.2 billion sale of Gruns gummy supplements to Unilever. The agency will pay out 10% of its equity stake to its employees.
Raindrop, which was named Small Agency of the Year, West, Silver at the 2026 Ad Age Small Agency Awards, also counts established giants such as Procter & Gamble as clients.
