In a rather interesting turn of events, it was revealed today that Urban Airship — a pioneer in mobile push notification technology — has acquired SimpleGeo, a company that specialized in gathering and storing mobile location data.
Just three months ago, the two companies announced a partnership with the intention of providing developers an easier way to offer location-aware push notifications in their applications. It made a perfect fit as both companies looked at geo-specific push notifications as major sources of revenue, and decided it was better to move forward as one company rather than two.
What’s most interesting is the acquisition price of just $3.5M. According to TechCrunch, SimpleGeo raised a total of $10M since 2009 from major investors including Ron Conway, Kevin Rose, Chris Sacca, Timothy Ferriss, Shawn Fanning, and Gary Vaynerchuk. As Mike Arrington points out, this is indeed a “soft landing” for SimpleGeo and most of the proposed cash will likely go towards paying off the last round of investors. Still, SimpleGeo had a ton of promise in the geo-location space, and was really a first-mover with a ton of potential in becoming the go-to source for mobile location data and infrastructure.
We’re reaching out for comment on the acquisition and will provide updates as we learn more.
