[Corrected, 2:25pm. See below] ‘Tis the season for Boston tech startups founded in 2010—and their products—to get acquired. Kinvey and Intrepid were bought last month, and now it’s SocMetrics’ turn. The Cambridge, MA-based social marketing company’s original product—called SocMetrics Influencer Platform—has been snapped up by Grapevine, a Boston marketing tech firm. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. [A previous version of this paragraph said SocMetrics the company was acquired. Wording was corrected to say its product has been acquired—Eds.]
The acquisition seems to make sense for both companies. SocMetrics identifies social media “influencers” in specific categories for advertising and marketing purposes, and helps agencies engage with them. Grapevine works to connect brands and advertisers with these popular influencers to drive business.
SocMetrics raised a $1.2 million seed round in 2012 from Google Ventures, Charles River Ventures, CommonAngels, Boston Seed Capital, 500 Startups, and angel investors.
Grapevine is led by CEO and co-founder Grant Deken. The company previously went through the Techstars Boston and MassChallenge accelerator programs. (SocMetrics is also a MassChallenge alum.) Earlier this year, Grapevine sold a majority stake to Sun Seven Stars, a Chinese media and investment group led by Bruno Wu.
In an e-mail, Deken says the SocMetrics platform acquisition “will expand our strategic footprint and diversify our revenue and customer mix.” He adds that SocMetrics’ software will be rebranded as “Scout,” and that Grapevine is on track to double its core business this year with half the staff size, as compared to last year.
SocMetrics was co-founded by Roy Rodenstein and Rebecca Xiong. They won’t be joining Grapevine, but are advising the company during the transition, Deken says. Rodenstein says in a Twitter message that SocMetrics “the company continues with our other marketing apps.” [Comment from Rodenstein added—Eds.]
Rodenstein and Xiong have a history of startup exits: a previous company of theirs, Going, was acquired by AOL in 2009. Xiong says on her LinkedIn page that she is currently CEO of GrowEpic. Rodenstein and Xiong are both involved with a service called MyTwitterManager, as well.
Marketing tech is as strong as ever in the Boston area. In addition to big players like HubSpot and Constant Contact (now owned by Endurance International Group Holdings), newer companies like ThriveHive, Crayon, Mautic, and Zaius have made recent progress in the field.
