Yext, which calls itself a “digital presence management service” for small businesses, has made its first international purchase, snapping up a Dutch startup called InnerBalloons for $8 million.
Next for Yext? Digital Presence Service Buys Dutch Startup InnerBalloons.
This first international acquisition will serve as the hub of the digital presence management service’s European expansion.
Like Yext, InnerBalloons — I have no idea at all what this name means — syncs location data across local Dutch platforms for 15,000 small businesses in that country. It is 51 percent owned by DTG, which is essentially the Dutch Yellow Pages, and will become the hub for Yext in Europe. Yext began expanding in the region earlier this year.
While largely under the radar, the New York-based Yext was valued in its most recent funding round earlier this year at $525 million. It serves about 400,000 businesses with unsexy but necessary software that allows them to update a wide range of location information. If you have ever been directed to the wrong location for a Best Buy by a digital map — while desperately looking for an Xbox One game your kids want for Christmas — you get why such plumbing is important.
“Digital presence is a basic need for all 50 million business locations in the world,” said Yext co-founder and CEO Howard Lerman in a statement.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
