On Friday, we learned that local-based service provider Loopt is being acquired.
The buyer is banking and payment services firm Green Dot Corp., which is reportedly paying $43.4 million in cash for the company.
According to an announcement to the press this morning, Loopt will provide Green Dot with a number of key strategic benefits:
- Improve customer acquisition and retention of its current prepaid debit card products
- Drive the adoption of new banking and payment products targeted to new segments of consumers
- Provide the opportunity for Green Dot to become a leader in mobile wallets, rewards and payment solutions at retailers nationwide
If you want to know more, you’ll have to wait until the company’s Q1 earnings call on April 26, 2012. At that time, Green Dot says it will provide further details about the acquisition and plans for Loopt.
By Green Dot’s own admission, however, Loopt retains several patents that are applicable to mobile marketing in the context of location-based messaging delivered real-time to a mobile handset. Green Dot believes that these patents will be important strategic assets as it pursues its mobile business opportunities.
“We believe that mobile phones have the potential to change the way people interact with their bank, control their money and pay for goods and services,” says Steve Streit, Chairman and CEO of Green Dot. “Loopt has innovative mobile technology, market leading mobile programming capabilities and compelling intellectual property. Meanwhile, Green Dot has a large customer base, a robust enterprise-level financial services infrastructure and retail point-of-sale financial transaction capabilities deployed at major retailers nationwide. When Loopt’s assets are layered into Green Dot’s platform, we believe that a significant opportunity emerges for Green Dot to become a large-scale player in mobile technology solutions at the retail point of sale.”
