VigLink just announced that it’s acquiring Boulder, Colo.-based startup LinkSmart.
Aside from the obvious connection of having “link” in both company names, VigLink founder and CEO Oliver Roup pointed to LinkSmart’s focus on helping online publishers promote content, whether it’s an important article or a sponsored story. That complements VigLink’s technology for automatically inserting affiliate links (merchants pay publishers when their affiliate links drive sales).
“We really thought there was a similar vision, and they had great customers [including BuddyTV and Purch] — it just seemed like an exciting opportunity,” Roup said.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but as part of the acquisition, LinkSmart’s backers Foundry Group and Costanoa Venture Capital are becoming VigLink investors. Roup said they added “slightly less than $2 million” to the Series C that he announced over the summer, bringing it to about $20 million total. And Foundry Group’s Seth Levine is joining the VigLink board of directors.
The details of how the two products will be integrated,is still being worked out, and for now, LinkSmart will continue to operate as a standalone service. As for the LinkSmart team, Roup said “a subset” of them will be joining VigLink — and they’ll remain in Boulder.
This is VigLink’s first acquisition since it bought competitor Driving Revenue back in 2010.
“It hasn’t been a major part of our strategy, but where we see a great fit, we’re excited to do it,” Roup said.
