Vancouver-based startup Fobi AI is set to acquire grocery couponing app Basket, which is owned and operated by Virginia-based Grocery Shopping Labs Inc. The deal is expected to be completed by late May or early June.
“Our combined AI & Big Data capabilities will now enable a new era of personalized marketing at scale.”
– Rob Anson
Basket is a digital platform that price checks shopping items between stores. With its technology, users are enabled to compare prices to find the best deals and promotions.
Fobi noted that Basket’s integration would provide the former’s own coupon solutions with a combined offering of price, consumer packaged goods (CPG) promotions, shopper, and retail insights, as well as transactional data and measurement.
Founded in 2018, Fobi offers AI-powered, real-time data analytics that businesses can leverage to convert them into actionable insights. The company is currently publicly traded at the TSX Venture Exchange and OTC Markets Group.
In September, Fobi acquired Qples for $3.2 million USD, representing its entry into the coupon industry. Through this transaction, Fobi took over Qples’ ownership of the Grocery Coupon Network (GCN). GCN was originally launched in 2009 and became one of the fastest-growing grocery coupon websites online, according to Fobi.
Fobi later acquired PassWallet in October for $1.2 million CAD to commence its FinTech strategy. Fobi is currently in the process of completing another acquisition, one with Portugal-headquartered mobile wallet marketing tool Passworks for around $541,547 CAD (€400,000).
Earlier this year, Fobi relaunched the GCN, and noted it currently has over 230,000 active newsletter subscribers and garnered more than 14 million visitors since January 2016.
What Fobi is aiming to achieve with Basket is to pair it with the GCN to bring significant optimization and increases in user experience. The consolidation is also expected to drive an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) for CPG brands with the two companies’ combined user bases.
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Rob Anson, CEO of Fobi, said Basket’s acquisition is well-timed. Due to the increased inflation in North America, Anson claims that the company is seeing a significant increase in demand for activation programs from CPG manufacturers and consumers to save money on their purchases.
“As a result of this acquisition, we have now raised the bar in terms of shopper and CPG manufacturer expectations as we now possess the dynamic ability to provide shoppers with the best price in their local market,” he said. “Our combined AI & Big Data capabilities will now enable a new era of personalized marketing at scale with unprecedented data analytics, and valuable insights as to campaign performance and measurement for the retail ecosystem.”
Image from Pixabay.
