Sensor Tower Buys data.ai, Formerly App Annie

US-based mobile app market intelligence and insights provider Sensor Tower has announced the acquisition of mobile marketing firm data.ai, formerly known as App Annie. Terms were not disclosed.

Sensor Tower, which provides data on the global digital economy for brands, agencies, gaming publishers and investors, says the buy will expand its customer base, mobile marketing and app intelligence products, and grow its geographical footprint. The move comes three years after it acquired Santa Monica, California-based advertising intelligence company Pathmatics.

San Francisco-based App Annie was founded in 2010 and at the time of its name change two years ago boasted a user base of more than a million app developers. The firm tracked evolving app ecosystem, including downloads, revenue, retention and usage, via a product called Store Intelligence; analysed app user demographics and sentiment via a service called Audience Intelligence, and included a specialist Research & Analytics division. Sensor Tower CEO Oliver Yeh says the buy marks 'the beginning of a new and exciting chapter, not only for Sensor Tower, but for the digital marketing and mobile app intelligence industry as a whole'.

data.ai CEO Ted Krantz (pictured) comments: 'Since 2010, data.ai has helped some of the finest brands and publishers globally to optimize their mobile performance. This evolution offers the best path to innovation, more insights across more channels, and ultimately, more value derived by clients'. Ramesh Venugopal, Partner at Riverwood Capital and member of Sensor Tower's Board of Directors says the combination 'bolsters data quality, accuracy, and coverage - across consumer demographics and geographies - while bolstering data privacy, and compliance to local data protection laws'.

The firms are online at www.sensortower.com and www.data.ai .