Online tourism services reservations giant Priceline Group Inc. (Nasdaq; PCLN), which is behind sites such as Agoda, Booking.com, Kayak, Rental Cars, has acquired Israeli micromarketing site Qlika Ltd. Blog "re/code", which first reported the deal, estimates the acquisition at $3 million.
Qlika is not a tourism services site, but is engaged in advertising technology, a field that is picking up speed worldwide. It offers micromarketing, i.e. geographically-based targeted ads.
According to IVC, Qlika's investors include Hillsven Capital LLC, and Kaltura co-founder and president Michal Tsur. The company has ten employees at its offices in Ramat Gan and Palo Alto. It emerged from UpWest Labs, the Silicon Valley incubator for Israeli companies.
It is no surprise that Priceline, whose presenter is Captain Kirk (aka William Shatner), decided to acquire a company that is not in the tourism industry. Priceline VP corporate development Glenn Fogel, the company's number 3 man who is responsible for worldwide strategy and planning, visited Israel in October 2013 to meet local start-ups. He told "Globes", "We're not necessarily seeking acquisitions and collaborations in tourism, but products that will complement what we do, rather than compete with them."
Qlika's technology will help Priceline create better targeted ad campaigns for online tourism site Agoda. Qlika's employees will join Agoda following the acquisition.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 12, 2014
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