Purch, owner of tech and science sites like Tom’s Guide and Live Science, is announcing that it has acquired Active Junky.
Active Junky partners with outdoor gear retailers to offer its members cashback rewards and other deals. The acquisition allows Purch to move into a new publishing category, and also provides the foundation for a broader customer loyalty program.
“The cornerstone of Active Junky’s model is cashback, but they also identify Deals, Special Offers, Coupons, and often work with their partners to customize special offers exclusively for Active Junky members,” said Purch CEO Greg Mason in the acquisition release. “We believe developing these kinds of ‘Member’ services across our portfolio of will augment our strategy of unifying content, commerce, and community.”
Formerly known as TechMediaNetwork, Purch says it reaches 100 million readers each month. It places a big emphasis on combining content and commerce — in other news, the aim is to use hardware reviews and other articles to drive (and make money from) product purchases. It even offers its own mobile shopping app, a rebranded version of Consumr, which it acquired earlier this year. (Other recent acquisitions include hardware site AnandTech.)
Purch raised a $135 million round just a few months ago. At the time, Mason said that acquisitions were one of the main reasons for the funding.
The company will continue to operate Active Junky as a standalone site. It plans to add consumer loyalty features to its other sites early next year. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.