According to a WSJ Article, Foursquare Labs Inc. is merging with yet another location-focused startup, Factual Inc., in an all-stock deal, the companies said on Monday.
The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. [Update: Deal terms were $225 Million for Factual on about $40Million in Revenue in 2019] The announcement comes less than a year after Foursquare bought Placed, another purveyor of location data and software, from Snap Inc.
Foursquare, which first gained fame for an app that allowed people to share their location with friends, pivoted in recent years to providing location data and software to businesses including marketers and ad agencies, helping them see how well their ads steered people to their stores and restaurants.
Factual’s location software helps marketers home in on customer segments, for instance, people who have visited certain car dealerships in the last 30 days. Factual or Foursquare’s data is already integrated into the digital advertising platforms of companies that include Oracle Corp., Roku Inc. and The Trade Desk Inc.
“Location data has tremendous power because of intent,” said Factual founder Gil Elbaz.
Foursquare already allows advertisers to target different audience groups, but Factual’s underlying data set is better, said Foursquare Chief Executive David Shim, who will continue in the role after the deal closes.
“When it comes to audience segments, Factual is No. 1; we’re not No. 1,” Mr. Shim said. “Foursquare is No. 1 when it comes to attribution and ad effectiveness, when it comes to app developer tools.”
Skydeo PlacesGraph provides marketers location-based audience segments and tool for measuring foot traffic.
