Sprout, a company that offers an easy-to-use platform for building HTML5-based ads, has been acquired by mobile ad network operator InMobi. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. Sprout had raised a total of $10 million from Global Venture Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Global Venture Capital, and Mitch Kapor.
Sprout got its start as a builder for Flash-based widgets that could effectively serve as miniature, embeddable websites (they were used primarily for marketing purposes). In 2010, the company made a major change: it decided to move away from Flash and focus entirely on HTML5, allowing advertisers to create animated and interactive ads that will play on nearly any device.
Their timing as good: two weeks later, Steve Jobs penned his famous ‘Thoughts on Flash’ letter, making it very clear to advertisers that if they wanted to reach iOS users, they’d have to do it using HTML.
Sprout will retain its branding and remain an independent company after the acquisition, and the SF-based team of 15 will all be kept on board. InMobi will be integrating Sprout’s ad builder into their platform — which InMobi VP of Marketing James Lamberti says will be happening in short order.
InMobi recently announced that it’s reaching 83 million mobile consumers in the United States through 6 billion monthly ad impressions.