Location-based media company Where has acquired LocalGinger, which operates a daily deal / group buying service with the same name. LocalGinger focuses on secondary markets for its social commerce activities, which it says has allowed it to build a strong following in select cities.
So why is Where buying the privately-held flash commerce startup? In a nutshell, to ramp up its advertising products.
The company says its WHERE Ads platform enables it to reach 50 million people, and by integrating LocalGinger local businesses will be able to use tools to create offers and drive real-time commerce at a hyper-local level.
Said Walt Doyle, CEO of Where:
“With the LocalGinger platform, WHERE Ads bridges a gap between services like Groupon and AdSense. Combining these services supports our mission of delivering relevant and valuable content to the WHERE audience as well as the audience of our publisher partners. On WHERE Ads, merchants interested in just-in-time group buying deals will have a platform to use and audience to reach through WHERE.”
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Where, which competes with the likes of Loopt and Foursquare, has raised $18.5 million in funding to date, from investors such as Venrock and Kodiak Venture Partners.
It has attracted 3 million active users so far, according to its About page.
LocalGinger helps small businesses in secondary markets leverage social media and execute location based mobile marketing.
Where, LLC., a PayPal service, is North America’s leading location based media company. With over 4 million active users, the WHERE consumer application helps users discover, save and share local places by delivering relevant information and money-saving special offers from local merchants that are meaningful, and are delivered where and when they want them. WHERE is a top-ranked application on all mobile platforms and carriers. WHERE Ads, the largest mobile ad network with 100% geotargetable inventory in North America,...
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