Street Fight Daily: Twitter Invests in Beacons, Nokia Expands Maps Sale
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Twitter Takes a Look at Beacons, Invests in Marketing Startup Swirl (Recode)
Swirl, a Boston-based startup specializing in beacon marketing, has raised $18 million from a slew of new investors, including Twitter. Swirl’s technology is intended to surface relevant ads to smartphone-wielding shoppers while they’re actually in the store, a technique that relies on beacons.
3 Trends Marketers Need to Know About Location-based Advertising (Street Fight)
Steven Jacobs: Location-based advertising has exploded in recent years as brick-and-mortar brands shift digital and traditional budgets to mobile. The result has fueled the growth of one of the quickest moving sectors in an already chaotic ad tech industry where tactics, strategies and capabilities are changing as fast as the companies offering them.
Nokia Targeting Apple, Alibaba and Amazon in Maps-Unit Sale (Bloomberg)
Nokia is trying to drum up interest from some of the biggest names in technology including Apple, Alibaba and Amazon. Those companies as well as Facebook, a group of German carmakers, and private-equity firms are among the companies looking at Nokia’s maps operations highlighting the ubiquity and utility of location-based services.
7 Strategies for Hyperlocal Companies Looking for Funding (Street Fight)
In order to overcome those challenges and secure funding as a hyperlocal, founders must think strategically — and sometimes get creative. Here are seven strategies for hyperlocals seeking funding, from executives who’ve been there before.
BIA/Kelsey: Mobile Will Grab 11.5% Share of Local Revs by 2019 (NetNewsCheck)
BIA/Kelsey predicts the mobile will capture an 11.5% share of total local media revenue by 2019, according to an update to its U.S. Local Media Forecast released Thursday. The report finds that location-targeted mobile ad revenues will grow from $6.7 billion in 2015 to $18.2 billion in 2019, a 28.5% compound annual growth rate.
Uber Ties Up With Zomato to Reach Hungry Riders (Wall Street Journal)
Car-hailing service Uber has tied up with India’s restaurant- searching company Zomato as it seeks to embed itself deeper into the lives of the world’s tech-savvy citizens. More people that use Zomato’s smartphone application to pick a restaurant will now be able to click on an Uber button on the app to book a ride to the places they choose.
Apple Moving Closer to Adding Public Transit Routing to Maps (Search Engine Land)
Greg Sterling: Apple has been talking about adding public transit data to its mapping product for a very long time. My understanding is that the company has had access to the transit data itself for some time, but for reasons that remain obscure has not has not been able to get transit directions into Maps yet.
Audi to Test Plan to Deliver Amazon Packages to Drivers’ Trunks (New York Times)
Audi, the German carmaker, said Wednesday that it would begin testing a system in Munich next month that would allow people to order goods from Amazon and have them delivered by DHL, the German package delivery service, to the trunk of their parked car. Volvo Cars said more than a year ago that it was testing a similar system.
Going Places: PlaceIQ Expanding Overseas (MediaPost)
Mobile data and cross-platform analytics firm PlaceIQ is launching a major international expansion with a new division covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the company announced today. Led by General Manager Mandeep Mason, formerly of Microsoft, the new division is kicking off in the UK with other countries to follow.
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