It’s been a busy week for location data deals. This week’s events have also validated a consolidation prediction made by the Localogy Analyst Team back in back in October.
Yesterday we wrote about the Foursquare-Factual merger, which brought together two location data leaders, creating a location intelligence powerhouse with data spanning 500 million global devices. Combined, the two companies boast more than 105 million points of interest across 190 countries.
Today brought evidence of a trend. Location intelligence firm PlaceIQ has acquired retail footfall measurement firm Freckle IoT. Deal terms not disclosed.
Neil Sweeney founded Toronto-based Freckle IoT in 2014. The company determines which media channels were most effective in driving traffic to a physical location. Place IQ gains a few things with Freckle.
Expanding Capabilities and Markets
Freckle IoT broadens PlaceIQ’s ability to support multi-channel brands and agencies by bringing further scale to audiences and measurement in key media channels. The deal also adds search and social capabilities. And finally, it expands PlaceIQ’s service footprint in Canada.
Freckle’s leadership can now focus on expanding Killi, a consumer-focused platform that helps consumers monetize their own data.
“PlaceIQ has been the pioneer in helping this industry evolve from its inception to the present time when enterprises finally understand the transformative value of harnessing location data to create superior customer insights,” said Duncan McCall, CEO and co-founder of PlaceIQ. “Our team has grown PlaceIQ into an enterprise that could integrate an equally innovative young company into our own–with the goal of meeting the significant demand for location-based insights. This is an exciting and proud milestone.”
Culling the Locational Intelligence Herd
According to reporting in AdExchanger, deal discussions began at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Despite the world flipping on its head in the intervening weeks, discussions continued, albeit virtually, and the deal was completed.
Back in October, in the wake of Localogy’s Place conference in Austin, Texas, we predicted on an analyst roundtable that the overcrowded location intelligence space was overdue for consolidation.
If anything, the case for consolidation in the location space is much stronger in today’s environment. And this week’s events seem to bear that out.
McCall acknowledged this to AdExchanger.
“Although there are fewer companies now, there are probably still too many, and we’re seeing that start to shake out in many different sectors and industries,” he said. “We’ll see more consolidation – it’s only natural.”
Here is an excerpt from last October’s discussion on location consolidation.
https://www.mrweb.com/drno/news29555.htm
