Investment Newsletter Says Yext Valuation Points to Search Shift
In the latest issue of Street Fight’s monthly newsletter The Hyperlocal Invesment Report, editor Steven Jacobs writes that “part of what is driving the valuation [behind Yext and SinglePlatform] is the shift in the local web from a search to discovery engine. … Metadata is more valuable than ever. Look for an uptick in M&A activity as well as the next investment opportunities in the merchant services and tools sector.”
Read more insights and analysis on key deals in June 2012, plus an in-depth look at Constant Contact’s $65 million acquisition of SinglePlatform; investments and deals in June; and more:
Google, Apple Set to Face Off in Hyperlocal: Mobile updates usher in big changes for local search
Street Fight believes that with Android and iOS controlling 82% of the mobile market share and mobile set to overtake desktop in terms of local search inquiries by 2015, Google and Apple will likely dominate local search (within their respective ecosystems) for the foreseeable future. Read more.
Massive Valuations Send Shockwaves Through Industry: Shift from search to discovery yields turning point in growth opportunities
Yext, a startup that helps merchants publish and edit business information across a network of publishers, raised $27 million at a $270 million valuation in June, sending shockwaves through the hyperlocal industry. … Street Fight believes that as the market shifts towards discovery and away from traditional local SEO, services that solve information problems within the discovery/search ecosystem (like fragmentation) will see substantial growth. Read more.
Mobile Payment Plays Look to Loyalty: Push toward point of sale positions marketing services against payments
Street Fight believes that the existing payment processing model, in which value is generated through distribution, is ripe for disruption. This will take time, but we see a three- to five-year horizon in which payments become a loss leader of sorts – geared towards selling additional services like inventory management and customer acquisition. Read more.
Plus: The Financial Update; Acquisition Spotlight
Although we are seeing a slight slowdown in the M&A, we continued to see acquisitions done by companies who are aggressively expanding their hyperlocal offerings, such as Constant Contact’s acquisition of SinglePlatform for $70-$100mm leading the way. … On the private financing side, venture capitalists have invested $132mm in the hyperlocal space in June 2012… We are seeing a number of emerging companies that leverage the legacy successes of AirBnB and Groupon — many of which are active both in the M&A and financing sectors. Read more.