Fusion Corporate Partners

TripAdvisor has acquired Where I’ve Been, a leading travel website and social platform with a detailed interactive world map that lets users share where they’ve been, lived, and want to go. Where I’ve Been is based in Chicago, Illinois and was founded by Michael Dalesandro and Craig Ulliott. Terms of the deal were not disclosed

Where I’ve Been allows users to share their world map on social networks and interact with like-minded users. Its Facebook application has allowed 10 million people to create color coded travel maps, “pinning off” close to half a billion places. Members can also upload stories and photos, source the community for answers to travel questions, and browse the “Travel Guide” which displays socially relevant information first. This acquisition underscores TripAdvisor’s continued focus and growth in social travel.

The entire product team at Where I’ve Been will join TripAdvisor.

USA, Newton, MA & Chicago, IL

Related articles:

• TripAdvisor acquires EveryTrail Posted on February 4, 2011
• TripAdvisor acquires Holiday Lettings, the U.K.’s largest independent vacation rental website Posted on June 24, 2010

eBay is to acquire Magento Inc., the creator of Magento, a leading open source ecommerce platform. The deal follows eBay’s acquisition of a minority stake in the company in 2010. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.

The Magento platform serves tens of thousands of merchants worldwide and is supported by a global community of solution partners and third-party developers. Magento is a feature-rich, open-source, enterprise-class commerce solution that offers merchants a high degree of flexibility and control over the user experience, catalog, content and functionality of their online store. Magento Go, the company’s hosted software-as-a-service solution, provides small and growing merchants with the tools to help them succeed online – from payments to inventory management. Magento is a Los Angeles-based company with more than 290 employees.

“Technology-driven innovation is blurring the lines between online and offline commerce, changing the way consumers shop, and enabling retailers of all sizes to benefit from the latest innovations from the developer community,” said John Donahoe, President and Chief Executive Officer, eBay Inc. “The feedback we’ve heard from external developers has been clear — they don’t just want payments or an ecommerce site; they want access to a full set of commerce capabilities to build complete shopping experiences for merchants. We believe the acquisition of Magento and creation of our X.Commerce group will enable us to meet developers’ needs and drive global commerce innovation for retailers and consumers.

USA, San Jose, CA & Culver City, CA

Related articles:

• eBay to Acquire location media company WHERE Posted on April 21, 2011
• eBay to acquire shares in Turkey’s GittiGidiyor Posted on April 21, 2011
• eBay to acquire GSI Commerce for $2.4BN Posted onMarch 28, 2011
• eBay to acquire brands4friends for $200 million Posted on December 20, 201o
• eBay Acquires RedLaser (barcode-scanning application for iPhone) Posted on June 30, 2010
• eBay Inc. Completes Sale of Skype to investor group led by Silver Lake Posted on November 19, 2009

There have been numerous reports (including on Fusion DigiNet) over the past few months forecasting it, so it was no surprise to read Groupon’s SEC filing announcing their $750 million initial public offering. It was also only in January this year that Groupon completed a huge $950 million round of financing valuing the company at $4.75 billion.

Groupon grew out of a website called The Point, a website launched in November 2007 . The business has grown rapidly; revenue has risen from $3.3 million in the second quarter of 2009 to $644.7 million in the first quarter of 2011.  However, it is still running at a loss. In the first three months of the year Groupon generated revenues of $644.7 million, made a net loss in the period of $146.48. The reason, the company is spending fast to expand fast. In the period from the second quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2011 Groupon’s subscriber base rose from 152,203 to 83.1 million and they are now active in 43 countries.

Groupon’s investors include Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Mail.ru Group (formerly Digital Sky Technologies), Maverick Capital, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover.

Read the SEC filing here.

USA, Chicago, IL

Related articles:

• Groupon buys Pelago Posted on April 29, 2011
• Groupon completes a huge $950 million round of financing Posted on January 11, 2011
• Groupon rejects Google’s $6 billion offer Posted on December 7, 2010
• Has Google bought Groupon? Posted by Fusion DigiNet on November 30, 2010
• Groupon has acquired European competitor Citydeal Posted on May 18, 2010
• Groupon acquires mob.ly Posted on May 7, 2010
• Groupon raises more funds at a $1.2 million valuation Posted on April 18, 2010
• Groupon has raised a Series B financing round of $30 million December 2, 2009

Pricetector, a private Social Loyalty company, has acquired price-alert services business Price Protectr LLC for an undisclosed sum.

“Priceprotectr.com has earned great recognition for having saved consumers millions of dollars through their innovative price-alert services,” said Rob Levy, Pricetector Founder and CEO.  “We look forward to incorporating their technology into our Social Loyalty platform.  Current and future users can expect major enhancements in the coming months that will make it easier for consumers to save more money in more ways.”

As part of the transition, the Price Protectr team will stay on as strategic consultants as Pricetector makes final its preparations for launch.

“We are thrilled to be working with Pricetector and are looking forward to their launch later this year,” said Price Protectr CEO,James Wallace. “Price Protectr will live on as the foundation for Pricetetor’s Social Loyalty platform.”

“Early in our engagement, they saw our innovative approach to helping people save money,” said Tim Tonella, President of Price Protectr. He continued, “With the additional capital and resources that Pricetector brings, the value of the platform can grow exponentially.”

“Price Protectr has been our pride and joy for a long time,” said Dave Cohen, Price Protectr co-founder and CTO. “We look forward to this next phase being even more successful than the last.”

The acquisition heralds Pricetector’s strategic and aggressive investment in preparation to launch and lead the Social Loyalty revolution.  The U.S. retail market is over $1.8 trillion per year. Unveiling later in 2011, Pricetector intends to fundamentally change the relationship between retailers and their customers by creating a platform that rewards both the retailer and the consumer and creates a sustained mutually beneficial relationship.

USA, Los Gatos, CA

Local.com, an online local media company, has acquired Krillion, a provider of location-based product search that connects online shoppers with products available in stores locally, with current discount, pricing and product information.

Krillion aggregates and matches consumer product information from multiple retailer websites and data feeds to create an up-to-the-minute structured index of over 70,000 products across consumer categories including appliances, baby gear, consumer electronics, computers, tools, video games and home & garden. The data index includes over 1,200 brands from over 50,000 retail locations across the U.S. and incorporates product images, current pricing, manufacturer or retailer discounts and real-time in-stock information.

Under the terms of the agreement, Local.com acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Krillion for $3.5 million in cash. Founded in 2006 and based in Mountain View, Calif., Krillion will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Local.com with offices in Mountain View. Morgan Joseph served as advisors to the company on the transaction.

USA, Irvine, CA

Related articles:

• Local.com to acquire the assets of Rovion February 17, 2011
• Local.com acquires the assets of local domain advertising company OCTANE360 Posted on July 1, 2010