Microsoft scooped up New York-based PromoteIQ, a startup that helps retailers build digital advertising and e-commerce offerings, for an undisclosed amount.
PromoteIQ brings with it a roster of big-name customers, including Kroger, Kohl’s and Overstock.com. The startup will continue to operate under its name and will become a division of Microsoft Advertising.
In separate blog posts, the companies didn’t go into specifics about how they will work together. PromoteIQ noted that the retail landscape is changing, and Microsoft brings “a humble, thoughtful approach to building out the defining operating system to power the future of commerce.” PromoteIQ co-founders Alex Sherman and Peter Schwartz wrote that they’d have more to share on integrations between the two companies in the coming months.
Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Advertising Rik van der Kooi wrote that PromoteIQ “pioneered the private marketplace approach to digital vendor marketing.” He added that “PromoteIQ technology strategically complements Microsoft’s current retail advertising offerings, and together, we can enable retailers with a portfolio of technology solutions to modernize their e-commerce platforms and maximize their monetization opportunity.”
Microsoft earlier this year separated its advertising division from the search engine Bing, to signify that the organization has ambitions beyond search. The change came almost a year after the debut of Microsoft Audience Network, a program that uses artificial intelligence and data from Microsoft services including Bing, MSN, Outlook, Skype and LinkedIn to help advertisers target native ads to specific audiences based on their online activities.
