Just last week on June 22 Denver-based startup, ROXIMITY, was acquired by the leader in location-powered mobile marketing--Verve.
ROXIMITY specializes in beacon software and hardware to offer location-based analytics and a full-feature advertising platform, enabling retailers, brands, and venues to interact with nearby customers.
The famous ROXIMITY beacons can sense when a consumer is nearby, making it possible to know their in-store location, and for marketers to send relevant messages out to their phone. This allows companies and brands to analyze and make use of consumers' precise in-store locations.
The company was founded by Danny Newman and Austin Gayer in 2011, when the two won a TechCrunch Disrupt 24 hour hack-a-thon with their first beacon prototype. The competition gained the company their first investors, including Fenox Venture Capital and Ludlow Ventures. In 2012, ROXIMITY joined Techstars, the Boulder-based startup accelerator.
Currently, ROXIMITY has eight employees, but with Verve, the company will be able to grow. The first order of business? Expand it's technical team. Newman, co-founder of ROXIMITY, said:
"The next phase of all of this is where we've wanted to be. We've been looking for a big way to execute on everything we've wanted to do on a technology and distribution perspective, and we'll be able to get there faster."
Verve, launched in 2005, is a location-based mobile marketing platform that connects advertisers with consumers. With 300 employees and locations worldwide, Verve is considered a pioneer in the location-based marketing field.
There was high-potential that Verve and ROXIMITY would become competitors, as both had plans to develop technology in the other's area of expertise, according to the Denver Business Journal. However, the combination makes mobile advertising more precise and measurable than ever before through the combination of ROXIMITY's in-store beacons and Verve's data distribution network and expertise.
Verve co-founder, president and Chief Innovation Officer, Tommy Kenny, said that the companies together will give marketers a new edge:
"Bridging device data with physical locations has been Verve's core function since day one. ROXIMITY's beacon distribution adds a deeper layer of in-store behavioral insights marketers deserve."
Both companies have similar founding missions to deliver relevant information on consumers based on their location and purchase history.
More on the acquisition of ROXIMITY:
Verve Blog: Verve acquires beacon solution and location analytics company Roximity
Denver Business Journal: Denver mobile technology company acquired, plans to grow