Joining an already-vibrant week for startup M&A and funding, Uberall just announced a double shot: $115M in funding and the acquisition of fellow location-marketing firm MomentFeed. Uberall, for those unfamiliar, helps local businesses optimize their presence in search, social and other consumer touchpoints.
Taking these milestones one at a time, the funding was led by London-based investor Bregal Milestone, with participation from Level Equity, United Internet and Uberall management. TechCrunch reports that the cash infusion bestows a post-money valuation of about $500 million, and positioning for acquisitions.
That brings us to the second part of the announcement in the MomentFeed pickup. There, TechCrunch estimates based on source information that the deal was made for $50-$60 million. This should be treated as non-primary source-info but could be relevant in getting a rough estimation of the deal size.
Gannett and Uberall Tighten Alignment
Drivers & Dynamics
As for the acquisition drivers, it’s all about gaining market share and economies of scale. For example, the combined entity will manage online presence for 1.35 million individual locations. Many of these locations are operated (or franchised) by multi-location enterprise clients like BP, KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut.
As you can tell from this list, both companies specialize in multi-location brands, as their automated workflows can alleviate pain points for social and listings updates across several locations. This continues to be an opportune subsegment of local media & commerce, as brand adoption still has ample headroom.
As is often the case, the union is also about synergies. Though there’s some overlap, MomentFeed brings platform-enhancing capabilities. This includes its longstanding specialty in social and reviews content, such as its sentiment analysis tool that helps businesses with multi-location reputation management.
“The integrated platform, taking the best aspects of both company’s software suites, is set to deliver a best-in-class solution for multi-location brands,” MomentFeed CEO Nick Hedges told Localogy Insider, “while the significant funding round enables us to double down in the US market and solidify our position as the platform-of-choice for global marketers.”
MomentFeed Raises $10 Million to Accelerate Product Roadmap
Near-Me Marketing
The timing could also be right for Uberall to strengthen its platform. As we all emerge from Covid-hibernation, IRL business activity will continue to pick up. Not only does that elevate demand for boosting local businesses’ online presence, but it amplifies the need to communicate dynamic info (think: mask policies).
Altogether, Uberall calls its practice of local business presence optimization “Near Me Marketing,” and Momentfeed buttresses that in several ways. We’ll keep watching closely as that materializes. Meanwhile, MomentFeed CEO Nick Hedges will transition to Uberall chief strategy officer and EVP for North America.
