The growing demand to provide information to companies about how effectively they are reaching customers on the Web is driving consolidation among tech companies that provide such insight. The latest example of such deal-making happened last week, when Toronto’s Syncapse announced it acquired—for an undisclosed sum—New York-based Clickable, a social and search ad management platform. Syncape markets a platform that brands such as Anheuser-Busch, L’Oréal, and Research in Motion use to manage and measure interactions with the public in social media.
Six-year-old Clickable had been growing, as well. The company has more than 160 employees around the world and it raised $12 million last October in a Series C round that included Union Square Ventures, American Express, FirstMark Capital, and Founders Fund. The acquisition of Clickable is expected to help Syncapse diversify its offerings, which include social-media publishing and data management. The deal comes not long after Salesforce.com bought social-media marketing company Buddy Media in New York for $690 million early this month.
Michael Scissions, CEO of Syncapse, communicated via e-mail with Xconomy about the acquisition of Clickable and the ways marketers can better leverage technology in the social arena.
Xconomy: What made Clickable an attractive acquisition for your company? How will Clickable’s technology help augment Syncapse’s platform?
Michael Scissons: As customers continue to advance their digital and social marketing strategies, they are looking for more end-to-end solutions that transcend paid, owned and earned media. Given tremendous synergies between both companies, solution sets and joint customers, it made sense to unite the teams to give customers more of what they require. The acquisition of Clickable further strengthens Syncapse’s position as the premiere social performance management platform, as social, search and mobile channels become even more critical for marketers seeking to acquire and engage customers. Customers will now have a fully integrated publishing, advertising, and intelligence suite, along with strategic services, to manage and amplify all of their social communications.
Syncapse will integrate Clickable into Syncapse Platform, extending it to now include a powerful, scalable solution for online advertising. This new pillar within the Syncapse Platform will help marketers simplify complex data into meaningful metrics and customer insights, and demonstrate ROI while making more profitable advertising decisions across Facebook, Twitter, Google, Bing, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and more. Marketers can track real-time performance as well as downstream engagement and purchasing behaviors.
X: What is happening in your industry that is driving such convergence?
MS: Social and digital channels are playing a dominant role in transforming the way large organizations and big brands engage with their customers and partners. One thing is certain: The industry needs a better way to understand, influence and report on the performance of these channels. CMOs are under intensifying pressure to deliver greater metrics and accountability tied to lead-generation and brand engagement.
X: Will Clickable maintain its staff and offices in New York? Will there be consolidation with Syncapse’s offices?
MS: Syncapse will expand its corporate, sales and marketing operations in its new headquarters in New York. Through the acquisition, Syncapse will expand its innovation and presence in Asia, with an R&D center in Gurgaon, India, and will continue operations in its offices in Toronto, London, and Portland, Oregon.
David Kidder, CEO and co-founder of Clickable, will become a strategic advisor to the company, Dave Fall, COO of Clickable, will join Syncapse as chief product officer, and Sandeep Sahi, managing director of Clickable India, will join Syncapse as senior vice president of engineering and managing director of Syncapse India.
X: Are you retaining Clickable’s brand or will it be folded into Syncapse?
MS: The Clickable brand will be consumed into the Syncapse corporate and platform brand.
X: Are there other aspects of this market that you want to expand into? New services that you expect to offer after Clickable is integrated into the company?
MS: Syncapse will continue to leverage the resources of the R&D center to determine future advancements and innovations for its social performance management suite; however, there are no additional service innovations to be announced at this time.
