Branch, a mobile marketing company based in Redwood City, Calif., has acquired a major business from Tune, a Seattle startup that builds technology for mobile marketers, app creators, ad agencies and many other players in the industry to track and analyze app downloads and usage.
According to a report from Ad Age, Branch acquired Tune’s “mobile attribution business,” which measures the effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns. Branch is one of only 19 Facebook mobile measurement partners in the U.S., according to Ad Age, and its customer base includes Amazon, Slack, Redfin, Airbnb and more. Partners like Branch use their access to Facebook data to give marketers feedback on their campaigns on the social giant’s network.
Tune used to be a Facebook partner, but it was removed after Facebook said it held on to data for too long and failed to notify users about its data collection policies. Tune and Facebook again clashed last year, when the social giant made a small change in its ad policies related to deep links.
Branch declined to comment and Tune did not respond to our request.
Ad Age reports that 4-year-old Branch only recently got into the mobile attribution game, and that its current offerings are a little clunky. Acquiring Tune’s attribution business allows Branch to smooth out its products and better compete with companies like Appsflyer, Adjust, Kochava and Singular.
Tune is No. 19 on the GeekWire 200 — our ranking of privately-held Pacific Northwest tech startups. The company’s profile on LinkedIn says it has 295 employees, and it has six open positions on its jobs site.
Tune was founded by twin brothers Lucas and Lee Brown in 2009 under the moniker HasOffers before rebranding in 2014.
Total funding to date is $36.4 million. Tune’s last investment round came in January 2015 when it reeled in a $27 million led by Icon Ventures. It made its fifth acquisition in January, swooping up marketing automation startup Optimob.
The company has undergone multiple lay-off rounds and reorganizations that included the departure of key executives in recent months. Tune, which helps customers like Staples, The New York Times, and OpenTable understand what users are doing inside of apps said earlier this year it returned to profitability after a round of layoffs a year ago that were done in part to fix its bottom line.
