Portland, Ore.-based mobile marketing startup Urban Airship has acquired Accengage to form what it calls the “world’s largest mobile customer engagement company.”
Urban Airship and Paris-based Accengage both develop similar products but for different markets. Accengage bills itself as the largest provider of mobile CRM and push notifications across continental Europe, while Urban Airship is a leader in the Americas.
The deal will help Urban Airship expand its global footprint in countries such as France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. The combined company will send more than 90 billion messages per month worldwide.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. All 80 employees at Accengage, including CEO and co-founder Patrick Mareuil, will join Urban Airship and continue working out of the existing Paris office. Urban Airship will support the Accengage platform and plans to develop a combined solution.
This is Urban Airship’s third acquisition to date. It acquired SimpleGeo in 2011 and Tello in 2012.
Founded in 2009, Urban Airship helps big brands including Adidas, Univision, The Home Depot, the Sacramento Kings, and others send push notifications on mobile, email, and newer mediums such as mobile wallets and voice-enabled notifications.
As consumers download more apps and use more devices, the amount of push notifications from various companies can be overwhelming. Urban Airship offers technology that helps personalize those messages. The company also touts its data protection and privacy policies in light of regulations such as GDPR.
Casey Newton, a reporter at The Verge, tweeted this week about the phenomenon of notifications becoming less personal and thus more likely to be disabled:
The implications of this phenomenon fascinate me. Over time people will stop believing notifications are relevant and become more likely to disable them on mobile, leading to decreased engagement, leading to more reasons to invent fake notifications … https://t.co/qZI24xi4hz
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) January 15, 2019
Urban Airship raised a $25 million investment round this past June; total funding is north of $100 million. Investors include Foundry Group; True Ventures; August Capital; Intel Capital; Verizon Ventures; QuestMark Partners; and Franklin Park Associates.
