HipCricket Acquired by Augme Technologies
Mobile marketing company HipCricket has announced it will be acquired by Augme Technologies for $44.5 million. Of that total, $6 million will be cash, the rest stock, in addition to a $27.5 million earnout over the next year.
For Augme this helps it diversify its mobile ad serving technology and base of advertisers and publisher partners. In this way, it adds to the assets gained from the recent $5.5 million acquisition of mobile barcode scanning company Jagtag.
Part of the appeal of HipCricket lies in its recent evolution from SMS marketing into a more broadly defined ad network. It also has valuable ties to local broadcasters, where it has focused due to CEO Ivan Braiker’s background in radio.
I got to catch up with Braiker about the crossroads of mobile and radio after running into him on the way out of Tim Westergren’s keynote at the MMA show in New York (the day after Pandora’s IPO). He’s always insightful on the topic.
In an email dialogue with Braiker this morning, he said the following:
“By combining with Augme, we are able to build the preeminent one-stop mobile provider for mobile marketing and mobile advertising for brands, agencies, pharma/health and media companies. The combined entity provides the full complement of products, services, strategy and experience to enable clients to drive sales, engagement and loyalty.
“This transaction addresses increased demand for one-stop mobile services backed by leading technology and platforms. More and more brands are choosing one mobile company to provide all services. An example is MillerCoors which last year inked a deal with Hipcricket to become its exclusive mobile marketing and advertising partner. Hipcricket signed a three-year contract to develop and execute all mobile marketing efforts in conjunction with MillerCoors’ agencies and development partners.
“The combined entity is strong in more than two dozen industries across every mobile channel, including SMS, 2D/QR codes, mobile websites, advertising networks, social media and branded apps. Specifically we serve ten of the world’s top twenty pharmaceutical companies; six of the largest media companies in the world; four of the largest advertising agencies in the world; three of the leading fast service restaurant groups in the world; and one of the largest food companies in the world.”
We’ll follow the integration of the two companies closely. In the meantime, congrats to Braiker and team.
