Earlier this week, Founder Institute Silicon Valley graduate Retailigence was acquired by ShopAdvisor, the leader in retail proximity marketing, analytics and mobile shopping, for an undisclosed sum. Retailigence, a hyperlocal marketing platform that drives qualified foot traffic into retail stores by matching them with consumer demand, had expanded at a torrid pace prior to its acquisition.
Retailigence is a Graduate of the Silicon Valley Founder Institute. If you are interested in creating a startup and following Retailigence’s path, then click here to apply today.
After graduating from FI, Retailigence raised funding rounds of $2.6 million and later $5.7 million as it gained attention from both investors and the larger startup community. The adventurous shopping app collected accolades from numerous press sources and was named on multiple Top Startup lists.
As it grew its customer base, Retailigence also expanded its product and ultimately created an extensive system with which customers could easily check the availability of a certain product in real-time. Its database of over 12 million products across 200,000 retail locations in the U.S. and Canada constitute both a giant asset for both consumers and retailers, enabling consumers to find products conveniently and helping retailers drive foot traffic. Retailigence’s services also seem to be very useful for a company like ShopAdvisor; enough to warrant an acquisition.
“We see the need for a completely integrated path to purchase, through the media, where consumers are influenced, staying connected through the transaction – online or at a local retailer.” - Jeff Papows, CEO of ShopAdvisor
ShopAdvisor is tracks users of its app with GPS and suggests convenient products pulled from its database of over 210 million products available both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. By acquiring Retailigence, ShopAdvisor expands upon its own database in the category of physical retail locations, and will ultimately be capable of making even better shopping recommendations for its users in an integrated end-to-end process. ShopAdvisor plans to completely integrate Retailigence into its app and its Content Intelligence, allowing the app to form a more accurate picture of customer desires and the whereabouts of particular products.
“Combining the ShopAdvisor Intelligence Suite with Retailigence’s real-time product inventory and pricing information and deep connections with retailers is a game changer for all participants in the mobile shopping value chain” - Dekkers Davidson, Executive Chairman of ShopAdvisor
This acquisition comes at a time when the mobile shopping has soared to unprecedented highs, with 82% of smartphone users consulting their phones while inside of a store. Retailigence and ShopAdvisor were two of the biggest players in the industry and - while they had worked together in the past - they had never fully partnered their services. With this acquisition, ShopAdvisor has put itself in a position to succeed in a rapidly growing marketplace.
Read more about the acquisition at Business of Apps, Xconomy, The Marketing Digest, Mobile Commerce Daily, PR Web, Retailigence’s Blog, and Mr Web.
Retailigence is a Graduate of the Silicon Valley Founder Institute. If you are interested in creating a startup and following Retailigence’s path, then click here to apply today.
