GoDaddy announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Locu, a San Francisco-based company that helps local merchants ‘get found’ online. Started in 2011 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Locu is used by more than 30,000 businesses, including restaurants, spas, salons, accountants, photographers and home-remodeling companies, to promote their services across Locu’s partner network. Locu reaches more than 200-million consumers per month through its partnerships with Yelp, YP.com, Foursquare, TripAdvisor and Facebook. Locu’s founders met at MIT in 2010, where they worked on a project together that was supervised by a group of top researchers and lecturers, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.
Sources close to the situation said it paid US $70 million in cash and stock for the company.“Locu, which was founded out of MIT in Massachusetts in 2011, helps local merchants get discovered online and has more than 30,000 businesses, including restaurants, spas, salons, accountants, photographers and home-remodeling companies, using its network platform.
Locu also has partnerships with Yelp, YP.com, Foursquare, TripAdvisor and Facebook according to the story. According to Locu.com site it “helps local businesses grow. ”“Whether you own a restaurant, hair salon, home remodeling company, or accounting service, we’ll get your business information and offerings in front of more customers — in just a few clicks.”
Local Small Business Strategy
The acquisition advances the GoDaddy strategy to deliver digital identities that help small businesses get more customers. “Locu epitomizes what GoDaddy is all about — both companies are hell-bent on helping the ‘little guy’ thrive on the Internet,” said GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving. “Locu is comprised of amazing technologists who have taken the very complex problem of helping small businesses ‘get found’ wherever consumers are looking and are solving it through elegant, technology-based services. We are welcoming some of the brightest technology minds on the planet to our GoDaddy family.”
The two companies have been working closely together since May when GoDaddy integrated Locu into its Website Builder. With the integration, service-oriented businesses have a simple solution to automatically create, manage and update their menu and service lists in a way that gives business owners complete control of their digital identity, whether they’re using a smart phone or a desktop computer.
“We couldn’t think of a more powerful platform to accelerate Locu’s growth,” said Rene Reinsberg, CEO and co-founder at Locu. “We each have a core mission to help local businesses succeed. Our team developed deep respect for GoDaddy during our initial partnership and was impressed by the execution speed and quality, its industry-leading customer support and the passionate, experienced new management team who puts ‘product first.’ All of this further positions GoDaddy as the ‘go-to’ provider in the small business space.”
Locu will continue to operate out of its San Francisco and Cambridge, Mass. offices and is actively hiring for both locations. All of Locu’s employees are joining the GoDaddy team.”
