Marchex Buys Messaging and Analytics Firm Sonar

In the US, mobile ad analytics specialist Marchex has acquired enterprise-level text / messaging and analytics business Sonar Technologies for an initial $12.5m.

Sonar's technology enables enterprises to deliver personalized experiences via text, and processes millions of messages for organizations in the real estate, consumer lending, travel, automotive and other industries. Its SaaS based platform is used for understanding consumer sentiment via digital recording. The firm also provides real-time metrics offering insights on user interactions, and archived data which can be used for personalized messaging based on user history and stored data.

Through the cash and stock deal, Sonar will expand Marchex's conversational data set, and the latter firm's ability to use artificial intelligence to uncover consumer intent signals across texts, messaging and voice communications channels. The transaction follow's Marchex 2018 acquisition of call analytics firm Callcap, which offers call monitoring and analytics solutions services across more than a dozen industry verticals.

Russell Horowitz (pictured), Marchex Executive Chairman, comments on the latest takeover: 'Today we are extending our analytics and customer engagement technologies with expanded text and messaging capabilities, one of the fastest-growing consumer communications channels. We think the combination of these capabilities will enable Marchex to be one of the first companies to offer deep consumer intent AI signals with actionable insights across voice and text.'

Web sites: www.marchex.com and www.sendsonar.com .