Telefonica to Buy Geolocation Data Firm Statiq

Spanish multinational broadband and telecoms provider Telefonica is to acquire UK-based geolocation footfall data specialist Statiq. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but sources value it at £3.5m.

London-based Statiq uses proprietary geo-location products to process billions of location signals, profile consumers and map the locations they visit. This data helps advertisers target ads based on specific locations, and track whether consumers visited a shop after seeing a mobile ad.

Statiq, which was founded three years ago by Tim Finn, Ilya Kazansky and Dean Cussell, will continue to operate under the same brand name. It will combines offices in London with those of Telefonica's programmatic platform Axonix, while maintaining its offices in Barcelona and Kiev.

Commenting on the deal, Finn said: 'Location-based mobile advertising is fast becoming a key competitive differentiator as mobile ad players enjoy the benefits of providing a highly personalised, relevant and timely user experience. This type of location data is highly valued on exchanges - uniting Statiqs data and analytics products with Axonix programmatic platform we are able to enrich the whole experience for brands and agencies'.

Web sites: www.telefonica.com and www.statiq.co .