NinthDecimal Acquires MoLOGIQ, Will Launch NinthDecimal Labs

San Francisco-based marketing platform and location intelligence company NinthDecimal today announced it has acquired mobile audience platform MoLOGIQ, and will also form a group to develop new solutions in location-based marketing.

Tapping key talent from MoLOGIQ, NinthDecimal says it will boost its data initiatives through the newly created NinthDecimal Labs in order to meet demands of agencies and brands. NinthDecimal CEO Michael Fordyce says his company was introduced to MoLOGIQ about six months ago and became interested in the technology they created. He also says the MoLOGIQ team was nimble and acted quickly. “They developed self-serve, audience creation tools and data visualization, which is highly complementary to us,” Fordyce says.

MoLOGIC provides insight on consumer behavior and how that relates to marketing campaigns aimed at them. The company generates those insights from data on public demographics, land parcels, voter registration, and through its software development kit, which can be found in more than 50 million mobile devices. The SDK’s reach, Fordyce says, made MoLOGIC an attractive target for acquisition. “That can help accelerate the amount of data we collect,” he says. “With the acquisition, we’ll have the largest mobile device reach of any location intelligence company in the US.” Collectively, after the acquisition is complete, NinthDecimal will have access to about 230 million monthly unique devices and the majority of the company’s intel will come from nonexchange data, Fordyce says, rather than from outlets such as Bidstream.

Having a diverse set of data from Bidstream and non-Bidstream sources is significant for NinthDecimal to increase its reach and scale, he says. It will allow for the creation of more robust audience profiles and can increase the match rate with measurement solutions and partners, Fordyce says. “We’re already seeing the benefits go up.”

With the deal, MoLOGIQ CTO Partha Roy Chowdhury will become CTO of NinthDecimal Labs and MoLOGIQ CEO Arvi Kang will be head of business development. The idea is for NinthDecimal Labs to serve as a sort of incubator for location-derived marketing solutions, Fordyce says. This is in response to clientele asking NinthDecimal for custom solutions or to brainstorm on new ideas. “We needed a vehicle to get things done very quickly,” he says.

When NinthDecimal Labs launches it will have a staff of about 15, and will work on the company’s current capabilities as well as long-term, future ideas such as artificial intelligence in adtech, Fordyce says.

The acquisition of MoLOGIC comes at a time when purchase data is becoming more significant around measurement, he says. “Driving foot traffic is great, measuring foot traffic lift is fantastic — now people want to know what was the purchase lift,” Fordyce says. One of the focuses for NinthDecimal Labs will be the integration of purchase data, and then exploring longer term solutions to close the loop on ROI for omnichannel, mobile, desktop, TV, and out-of-home in the future.

The deal is due to be complete on July 1, and the teams will assess where to get started. “The first 30 days we’re going to prioritize all the things the MoLOGIQ has going on, what we have going on, and prioritize what NinthDecimal Labs will focus on,” Fordyce says.

Joao-Pierre Ruth is a Street Fight contributor.