Verve Strengthens Hyper-Targeted Audience Segmentation and Rich Storytelling Offering with German Acquisition

Mobile location pioneer drives international expansion, moving into German market with acquisition of push marketing company, matchinguu GmbH

LONDON: Verve™, the global leader in location-powered mobile marketing, announces its acquisition of German push marketing specialists matchinguu GmbH, accelerating its expansion across international markets. The matchinguu GmbH proximity-based push and in-app notification product will be integrated into the Verve Velocity™ platform, thereby enabling Verve’s clients to reach new European audiences with enhanced mobile advertising experiences aligned to the unique needs and expectations of consumers in the EU.

As Verve expands further into markets across the globe, it is keen to continually enhance its offering with new mobile advertising products that bring brands and publishers closer to the consumer in a more useful and relevant way, especially in stores and at other physical locations. Adding push capabilities to its global product portfolio will offer Verve’s premium publisher and retail partners an unrivalled product to deliver highly engaging campaigns based on the best quality first-party location data, and in formats appealing to the European consumer. Further, the matchinguu solution bolsters Verve’s developer toolkit to help brands interact with their known customers within their owned and operated mobile apps. The resulting audience data provides additional context that can be used to reach those same customers in other third party apps through the Verve Velocity™ platform.

The acquisition fast-tracks Verve’s expansion into Europe, with integration of the Verve software development kit (SDK) into major mobile apps throughout Germany, where matchinguu commands a  25% penetration rate of the smartphone market. SDK integration into hundreds of popular apps in Europe’s largest economy will enable Verve’s clients to deliver richer and more engaging mobile advertising based on real-time consumer behavior. The second largest advertising market in Western Europe, Germany’s mobile ad spend is expected to reach $3.5 billion in 2017, for the first time accounting for more than half of Western European digital ad spend, presenting ample opportunity for Verve’s clients to reach new audiences.

“The acquisition came naturally, thanks to the complementary technologies and both parties having similar missions: enabling great storytelling through location-powered data,” said Ian James, General Manager International at Verve. “We are opening the doors to Germany’s foremost push technology; working together will make our offering even stronger for our clients and bring Verve firmly into the heart of Europe. Consumers demand relevance and engagement that is as seamless as possible and this acquisition will empower us to deliver this more than ever.”

“Verve offers a first-in-class mobile platform that allows brands to create intelligent and highly relevant marketing,” said Felix Heberle, CEO, matchinguu GmbH. “matchinguu GmbH’s mission has always been to deliver a premium location data solution for our clients, allowing them to expand their storytelling capabilities beyond the norm, which has always been a core focus of Verve. I am very excited to see the results of our businesses joining forces, not only in Europe but also in the US market.”

Founded in the US in 2005, Verve opened its UK office in 2016 to lead its expansion into international markets. matchinguu GmbH’s location-powered audience creation processes are fully compliant with the strictest privacy regulations in Europe, adhering to Verve’s stance on privacy and consumer protection. Operations will run from matchinguu GmbH’s Munich office.

About Verve

Verve™ is a location-based mobile marketing platform that connects advertisers with consumers to deliver successful business outcomes. The company’s proprietary location intelligence, patented technology, premium mobile inventory, and analytics capabilities empower marketers to identify, reach, and engage consumers with compelling mobile advertising experiences. Headquartered in New York City, Verve has offices in San Diego, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Detroit, London, and Eastern Europe. For more information, visitwww.verve.com.  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vervemobile.

About matchinguu GmbH

matchinguu GmbH is a mobile ad-tech company. Its goal is to change the way app publishers and advertisers interact with audiences. Through its real-time push- and proximity-marketing platform, matchinguu GmbH empowers engagement that is more targeted and highly relevant. matchinguu GmbH believes that optimising audience sizes for relevance will always lead to the highest customer satisfaction and conversion. By connecting apps in its network, matchinguu GmbH provides new options to grow traffic and deliver innovative monetization opportunities without being intrusive to its users.