The past week has seen two location–focused startups services acquired by Apple, and today a lesser — but certainly related — deal was closed after US firm Ruckus Wireless picked up Singapore-based indoor mapping specialist YFind for an undisclosed price.
YFind is much like WiFiSLAM — another startup which Apple bought (for $20 million last year) — in that it provides smart indoor location technology to enable retailers to track, analyze and interact with customers’ phones to within three-feet. Since it uses WiFi and not cellular signals, customer data can be captured by the service without the need to download an app or any other software, removing one potential barrier for insight.
The company has ‘major retail’ customers in Singapore and other markets, and it introduced its first analytics dashboard in May. At the same time, co-founder and director Melvin Yuan relocated to Silicon Valley in what he called a “semi-permanent state” to set up an office and respond to customer leads.
It seems the US move also attracted suitors, and the Ruckus Wireless deals comes just two months later.
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Yuan tells TNW he is unable to provide comment about the deal. He did point us to a short and very-much-to-the-point press release in which Ruckus explains how it will integrate YFind with its solution:
With this acquisition, Ruckus intends to enable new location-based services by combining its unique, Smart Wi-Fi technology with YFind’s range of location based services and analytical capabilities, transforming Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi networks into location-intelligent infrastructures.
These solutions will address new emerging opportunities among enterprises and service providers to offer value-added services to their customers.
YFind raised a SG$1.5 million (US$1.2 million) Series A round in June 2012, following a SG$750,000 ($610,000) government grant. This looks like a good exit for the company, but unfortunately we’re not able to put a figure on exactly what it is worth.
We’ve contacted Ruckus Wireless for further details of the acquisition and its plans.
Related: Singapore’s YFind targets the US with indoor positioning analytics service for retailers
Headline image via calsidyrose / Flickr
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