Boston Communications Group Inc. (BCGI) announced at the end of last week that it will acquire start-up PureSight for $5.8 million in cash.
Negotiations were held over several months. The agreement means that PureSight's Israeli staff will become BCGI employees. This is BCGI's first Israeli acquisition.
PureSight (formerly iCognito) was founded in 1998 by Netta Mendelson and Ro'i Cohen. ICQ founder Yair Goldfinger was one of the initial investors in the company, which raised $6.1 million in two investment rounds.
PureSight's line of content filtering products allow for analysis and categorization of Internet content in real-time, according to user-defined criteria. The company is based in Orange County, California and maintains research and development facilities in Israel.
BCGI develops access management, billing, payment and network solutions and services to help telecom operators deploy and manage voice and data services for subscribers. BCGI was founded in 1988 and is listed on the Russell 2000 index.
PureSight general manager Ouri Azoulay told "Globes" that following the acquisition, the company's Petah Tikva R&D center would become BCGI's center, and would be expanded in the near future.
BCGI's announcement was released earlier than expected after the company lost 70% of its value on Nasdaq, dropping from $5 to $1.45, after a ruling in a $128 million patent infringement lawsuit filed against BCGI by Freedom Wireless over one of its services, considered BCGI's main revenue engine. BCGI has already announced its intention to appeal.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Sunday, May 29, 2005