Tokyo, Japan — Struggling to compete with its rivals, Internet pioneer Yahoo Japan has scooped up location-based mobile ad firm Cirius Technologies, the Japanese mobile ad network firm backing the AdLocal mobile ad network, is now part of Yahoo Japan.
The acquisition marks Yahoo’s move in the location based services markets to strengthen its position in the burgeoning mobile advertising market, Cirius is the company supporting the AdLocal mobile advertising platform, which allows advertisers to deploy adverts based on the physical location of users via GPS, Cell-IDs, map coordinates and other data.
Cirius’s principal business activity is a service called AdLocal. It functions as a location-based mobile advertising network, enabling marketers to choose where and when consumers will see an appeal to buy something, along with who (in terms of demographics) the consumers will be.
Cirius’s principal business activity is a service called AdLocal. It functions as a location-based mobile advertising network, enabling marketers to choose where and when consumers will see an appeal to buy something, along with who (in terms of demographics) the consumers will be.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed by Yahoo, but after the completion of deal it is expected that Cirius will have to shut down its operations in Sunnyvale, California and move its 30 staff to the Yahoo Japan head quarters.
Serkan Toto reported, however, “Following the acquisition, Cirius will close the office in the US and move its HQ to that of Yahoo Japan’s,” so it does not appear like Yahoo Japan is trying to expand its reach right now.
Otherwise, details are scarce. Yahoo Japan and Cirius have not yet revealed how the AdLocal tech might be integrated into other properties, for example. Yahoo will utilize AdLocal’s dominant position in the $1 billion mobile advertising market to leverage its operations in Japan.
Gen Miyazawa, 28, has established Cirius in 2004. AdLocal had collected $9 million in three rounds of funding from SoftBank, which is a Japanese telecommunications giant, owns a 40 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, in addition to Jafco Ventures and Edge Capital.
Use of location-based service to serve mobile adverts is yet to pick-up in the US, but is already becoming increasingly popular as a market in Japan with an estimated value of over $1 billion. The company so far has catered to more than seven billion ads for premium brands such as Subway, Denny’s Nissan and Nike. Rivals include 1020 Placecast, Navteq, and others.