It was revealed today that Facebook has acquired 8-month old stealth startup “Rel8tion” to boost hyperlocal mobile advertising for its 200M+ mobile users.
Facebook is placing heavy emphasis on the mobile channel, saying that those who use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active as non-mobile Facebook users. With such a massive mobile reach, Facebook is getting serious about monetizing its mobile efforts. The social giant’s “Deals” geo-location service is prime for generating mobile revenue, and the acquisition will add the talent and resources necessary to take it to the next level.
“We’re excited to confirm that we recently completed a talent acquisition of Rel8tion, a stealth-mode startup in Seattle,” the company said in a statement. “The engineering team will join our growing Seattle office, and we’re looking forward to having them on board.” The company was co-founded by Peter Wilson, a Google engineering veteran, and Scott Hannan, previously a consultant for Microsoft.