Matta Transfers to xAd as it Buys, Gets Funding

Location intelligence firm xAd Inc. has raised $42.5m in funding and has acquired weather data specialist WeatherBug, for an undisclosed sum. Meanwhile former comScore CEO Serge Matta has joined the company as President of Global Sales and Marketing.

xAd, whose technology uses current and past location data from mobiles to track in-store visits and target / time promotions, says the acquisition will expand its mobile user visibility to 50 million individuals, opted in to share their location data many times a day.

WeatherBug, headquartered in Germantown, MD, is a division of Earth Networks, and the buy gives xAd its WeatherBug mobile, desktop and iWatch apps, WeatherBug.com, and WeatherBug connected TV assets. The ad tech company says it will augment its global, real-world intelligence and contextual database with WeatherBug's daily user reach and engagement and 'a data infrastructure built from one of the largest IoT networks, across ten thousand private weather stations'. The integration will enhance xAd's ability to predict trends and help clients plan based on user behavior, as it relates both to the weather and other location factors.

xAd's series E round, announced with the acquisition, raised funds from leader Eminence Capital, with contributions from W Capital and existing investors IVP and Emergence Capital.

Matta (pictured), who was replaced as comScore CEO by co-founder Gian Fulgoni in August, spent the previous 16 years at the measurement firm. xAd CEO Dipanshu 'D' Sharma says his arrival is 'a significant step forward' for the company, and comments: 'Serge has done it before, he has helped take a small company to a global brand. We are excited to have him help us chart the path forward, together with a team very passionate about location intelligence'.

Web site: www.xad.com .