Versus, the Berlin-based product comparison site and engine backed by Earlybird Venture Capital, and Dave McClure’s 500 Startups (amongst others), has been acquired by Germany’s MenschDanke Group, which owns several shopping and online discount properties.
Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, though a source tells me it is a low 8 figure price, so perhaps as little as $10 million. Versus had raised a total of $3.8 million in funding.
What I do know for certain, however, is that the deal sees MenschDanke Group acquire the Versus brand and all of its assets, while the startup’s team of 9 people will remain with the company. Versus CEO and founder Ramin G. Far will be sticking around while the transition takes place but will step down by October.
MenschDanke Group also says it will continue to operate Versus as a separate brand, and that the deal is viewed as a “perfect fit” for its group of companies, which will be used to cross promote Versus’ multilingual comparison engine.
MenschDanke’s companies include gutscheinpony.de (a voucher and coupon business); schnaeppchenfuchs.com (an online discount shopping destination); and tripdoo.de (an online travel shop), which together attracted 70 million visitors last year, helping to generate sales for partner retailers in excess of €750 million.
Meanwhile, Versus currently comprises 160 million live product comparisons and sees more than 2 million unique web sessions per month, and 1 million native mobile sessions per month.