Placed, a Seattle company that tracks traffic to physical locations using mobile devices to help measure the offline impact of online advertising, has been acquired by camera company Snap Inc. (NYSE: [[ticker:SNAP]]), the maker of messaging app Snapchat.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, pegged the value of the deal at $125 million with stock payouts that could increase it to more than $200 million. Placed founder and CEO David Shim did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Snap confirmed the acquisition but did not disclose terms of the deal.
In a brief post on his company’s blog Monday, Shim wrote that the company will continue “working independently” as part of Snap to create “a common yardstick that can measure the offline effectiveness of advertising across multiple platforms and publishers.” In April, the company said more than 250 customers were using Placed Attribution to measure how digital media impacts traffic to physical stores.
Placed, which grew to more than 100 employees, will maintain its offices in Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles. Employees will report to Shim, who will in turn report to Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan.
Last summer, Placed announced the results of an independently conducted study of Snapchat users’ offline store visits. The most-visited store for male Snapchat users in the study was restaurant Carl’s Jr. Females went to clothing retailer Maurice’s.
“Snapchat’s ability to drive offline actions will be one the key opportunities and revenue drivers in the coming years,” Shim said at the time. “Measurable ROI is what drove rapid adoption in paid search for Google, and app installs and audience targeting for Facebook.”
Earlier this year, Snap released its own offering measuring visits to physical stores that advertised on Snapchat.
Placed, founded in 2011, and formerly known as Sewichi, raised $13.4 million from Madrona Venture Group, Two Sigma Ventures, Shane Atchison, and Shim.
Prior Xconomy coverage:
Seattle’s Placed Raises $10M to Measure Mobile Ad Effectiveness
Placed Service Would Prove Mobile Ads Get Customers in the Door
Dunkin’ or Starbucks? Placed Tracks Consumer Moves to Find Out
