Augme Technologies Set to Acquire Hipcricket
Augme Technologies today announced that it has acquired mobile marketing and advertising firm Hipcricket for $44.5 million.
The acquisition comes just two weeks after Augme announced its acquisition of JagTag for $5.25 million. "We're in the process of becoming one of the preeminent one-stop providers of mobile marketing and mobile advertising," says Paul Arena, CEO of Augme Technologies. "We believe that this merger will bring together best-of-breed companies.”
Arena says the companies plan to integrate their platforms and technology once the deal is complete at the end of this month. "We believe we will be able to offer the marketplace a very key solution that doesn't exist today by anybody else."
"Hipcricket shares a vision with Augme of providing brands, agencies, and partners with the most powerful selection of mobile marketing products, services, strategies, and experience to enable them to drive sales, encourage interactive customer engagement, and build brand loyalty," said Ivan Braiker, founder and CEO of Hipcricket, in a statement. "The companies' offerings are complementary, and we are excited about the additional depth and scale we can now bring to our existing and new clients. We continue to see innovation driving business results through the mobile channel."
"[Hipcricket] has been around for seven years and have done over 100,000 mobile marketing campaigns, typically in the SMS space," Arena adds. "They have begun to get traction with a number of large company brands."
When the acquisition takes effect, Braiker will serve as president and will join Augme’s board of directors. Eric Harber, president and chief operating officer of Hipcricket, will join Augme’s management team as chief operating officer, and Phillip Rapp, chief operating officer of Augme, will become executive vice president of strategic planning. Augme will retain all of Hipcricket's employees.
According to Arena, with the addition of Hipcricket to its portfolio, the combined companies' client roster is expected reach more than 300 customers, including 10 of the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies, six of the largest media companies in the world, four of the largest advertising agencies in the world, three of the leading fast-service restaurant groups in the world, and one of the largest food companies in the world.
Augme had been talking with Hipcricket about a deal for several months prior to the acquisition, Arena says. "Both sides felt there were a number of synergistic opportunities by combining the companies and adding value to the marketplace."