inMarket acquires rival Thinknear, suggesting consolidation ahead for location intelligence

August 9, 2019

Location-based ad platform inMarket is buying Thinknear from owner Telenav. Thinknear is a location-based ads and analytics provider that competes with numerous other companies in the segment.

Todd Dipaola, CEO and Founder of inMarket said in an email that the acquisition will provide inMarket clients with “best-in-class managed as well as self-service platforms.” He added, “they’ll gain access to all of Thinknear’s products such as Geotype and Geolink, as well as their location score performance tech. Notably, inMarket clients will gain access to the Thinknear self-service platform. InMarket previously did not offer self-service.

Thinknear a non-core asset. Telenav is a connected car, navigation and fleet management platform. The transfer of Telenav to inMarket received a quick mention in Telenav’s earnings release yesterday and zero discussion on the company’s earnings call, suggesting its ads business was a tiny fraction of revenue. Telenav is thus likely shedding the ads unit to focus on its core, connected cars business.

Telenav said, however, it plans to work with inMarket to offer in-car advertising to consumers through its relationships with car manufacturers. As part of the deal, the value of which was not disclosed, Telenav will gain a minority equity stake in inMarket.

The acquisition follows Foursquare’s purchase of Placed from Snap in May. InMarket told me the deal was not a response to Foursquare-Placed. However, it still suggests more consolidation may be ahead for the segment.

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