Mobile payments expert Bango adds data management skills with Audiens
Bango, the Cambridge mobile payments provider, has acquired Audiens, the data management subsidiary of Digitouch.
Bango already works with the likes of Microsoft, Google and Amazon, helping them make payments quickly and easily. Audiens has spent the past two years developing a platform that gathers and analyses data, and making custom-built audience segments available to advertisers. Bango wanted Audiens in order to push forward as it capitalises on the demand for the data that it generates through its existing operations. This should also help the payments expert provide additional value in the mobile advertising space.
“The acquisition of Audiens accelerates the development of the Bango data monetisation business and opens the door to exciting new additional revenue streams from the Bango platform,” Bango CEO Ray Anderson said in a statement.
Monetisation of mobile data is an attractive prospect for mobile operators, who are looking for ways to do so while remaining compliant with regulation and privacy requirements. The idea is that the combined Bango-Audiens platforms will provide insights of this nature not just to mobile network operators, but also to merchants and advertisers.
“Bango Boost already monetises data by delivering significant sales growth for merchants,” Anderson added. “With Audiens technology, Bango can now capitalise on the demand for data to enable more effective marketing, bringing additional revenue and scale to Bango, as mobile cements its place at the centre of global commerce.”
Bango is paying a total of £1.8 million in cash for Audiens, plus providing shares to the seller to the value of about £939,000. AIM listed Bango funded the deal by raising £5 million from the market, and has said it will be spending the remaining cash on integrating the Audiens technology, and on supporting development and marketing of Bango’s mobile data monetisation business.
But the option also remains open for the company to make another deal. Bango has said the Audiens technology should accelerate its data strategy by 12-18 months. But both advertisers and corporations are still hungry for ways to more accurately read, and reach, its customers. Any company which can help with that task should not be surprised if they get a bit of extra attention.