If you've ever had a dinner party saved by a "grocery stores near me" search for last-minute ingredients, you just might have a local company to thank.
, a B2B location-based marketing tech provider that helps make “near me” searches effective for many enterprise brands, is scaling fast to make sure brands get the most out of their geo-based marketing efforts.
The company, which offers a suite of local marketing tools under the Velocity brand, today announced the acquisition of SyCara Local, a company specializing in SEO and data insights company for local business listings.
SIM Partners CEO Jon Schepke said the acquisition will help bolster and accelerate SIM Partners’ technology.
“The acquisition of SyCara Local provides Velocity broader and deeper local data sets, including organic rankings, mobile rankings, local rankings, and also review quantity and quality,” he said.
Though financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Schepke did say two SyCara employees will immediately join the SIM Partners team. Schepke added that the company will also hire additional staff to support the acquisition.
Location-based marketing is a $23 billion dollar market in North America alone and is expected to almost double to $45 billion by 2017. It’s a fast-growing marketing must, and SIM Partners has emerged as a leader in the space.
“We’re particularly excited about the acquisition because it comes at a time when mobile continues to define the future of local and location-based marketing,” SIM Partners CMO Tari Haro said. “Mobile search surpassed desktop search this year, and 80 percent of near-me searches are coming from mobile devices. These changes in consumer behavior have made local marketing the next digital battleground for brands."
Bootstrapped for 8 years until about 18 months ago (when the company raised $10 million in funding), Schepke said he’s seen the company grow from 40 to 75 full-time employees and expects to see that growth continue.
“We’re projecting to grow next year somewhere in the range of 50 to 100 percent,” he said.
And Schepke said the company’s in a good spot to take on 2016.
“This acquisition provides our customers the most comprehensive location marketing measuring tool available on the market today,” Schepke said. “For us, 2016 is all about how we innovate and differentiate, and this acquisition means we’re well positioned to do that going forward.”
