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Snap acquires location-tracking startup Placed

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CIOL Snap acquires location-tracking startup Placed

Snapchat parent Snap has acquired Seattle-based Placed, a startup that operates a consumer location analytics platform.

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Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed in the Monday announcement, Geekwire reported that it was worth up to about $200 million, which would make it Snap’s biggest announced purchase.

Placed will help Snap scale its measurement systems like Snap To Store so advertisers can chart how online Snapchat ads translate into offline return on investment. Apparently, Snap plans to keep Placed in Seattle and allow it to operate independently. Snap also will put in place strict privacy, data-sharing and security rules to guarantee a physical and digital separation between Snapchat and Placed data.

Placed has built an audience of users that it can ask directly about their recent locations and store visits. It combines this with third-party data to be able to determine what percentage of a sample of an ad’s viewers actually were inspired to visit a brick-and-mortar business. It then can extrapolate to estimate the brand lift and return on investment for an ad campaign.

In a blog post, David Shim, Placed founder and chief executive, who has worked in online advertising since 2002, said more than $500 million in ads has been tracked through Placed in the last year.

Placed, which has more than 100 employees, raised over $13 million in venture capital funding.

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