BackYbrant Digital to buy stake in Israeli company
Ybrant Digital to buy stake in Israeli company
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Hyderabad: Digital marketing firm Ybrant Digital intends to buy a minority stake in Israeli digital media holding company Web 3.0, seeking to expand in a country where it already has a business presence and about 70 employees.
Hyderabad-based Ybrant Digital, which acquired search engine and web portal company Lycos Inc for $36 million last year, did not disclose the size of the stake it’s purchasing in Web 3.0 or the amount it will pay.
The Israeli company holds assets in most growing digital fields—the web, mobile web and performance-based marketing and applications development.
“Fundamentally, it is a business development deal," chairman and CEO Suresh Reddy said, adding that the deal will be closed in the next few months.
“Web 3.0 is a well-established Israeli player trying to go global," said Reddy. “We have something for them, and they have something for us." Ybrant Digital, which raised $48 million in debt and equity in January, services brands such as SAP AG, Ford Motor Co., UPS Inc. and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Established in 2000, it operates in 16 countries, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Israel, China, India, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Ukraine and Serbia.
According to Ybrant Digital, studies estimate worldwide spending on mobile marketing, advertising and messaging to exceed $3.3 billion in 2011, and reach $20.6 billion by 2015. Search ads and location-based ads will drive the growth, it said.
Yogendra.k@livemint.com
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