Deal aggregator startup Bownty has acquired Spanish Yunait. The deal will see Yunait adopt the Bownty brand. Together they will have a combined 2 million users, making it Europe’s leading aggregator for deals based on “experiences”.
Expanding to south Europe and south America
Yunait is regarded to be the leader in Southern Europe. It operates in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK. However, it also operates in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
Bownty aggregates deals from over 100 daily deal sites each day, including Groupon, Living Social, KGB Deals and Wowcher. In a similar fashion to other services, subscribers receive one daily email that matches their preferences, aiming to make the email as relevant as possible for each subscriber. Bownty also has for iOS and Android. TechCrunch reports that Bownty is regarding its ability to execute on mobile as one of the things it brings to the Yunait acquisition — noting that over 50 percent of its deals are sold via mobile.
“We are building the Kayak.com for deals on experiences. The experience economy and online2offline commerce is really beginning to gain traction. With the acquisition we expect an acceleration of our growth and we think that Yunait is the perfect match for Bownty in our effort to conquer this space.” says Bownty CEO Steffen W. Frølund
A way to exit for Yunait
Steffen W. Frølund reveals to Trendsonline that they have had contact and smaller collaborations with Yunait since they first met at a conference a few years ago. These collaborations have grown over time. When co-founder and CEO of Yunait, Pablo Elosua, began to dream of a new startup in New York, the Spanish team began to look for possible candidates for an acquisition, and Bownty was a clear possibility.
“Our shared knowledge will enable us to offer our almost 2 million users a better service. We will focus on being the leading resource for local deals. Especially Bownty’s successful mobile strategy will be an exciting addition to the Southern European markets.” said Yunait co-founder Pablo Elosua.
Behind the acquisition is a shared vision for the combination of the two companies Bownty’s brand and platform, but the acquisition also brings business synergies particularly in relation to the centralization of administration and development of the mobile page.
Yunait was previously backed by Spanish VC Inveready. In 2013 Bownty raised almost € 900 000 in new funding from Danish SEED Capital, and Accelerace Invest. Today’s acquisition was a mixture of cash and stock (plus earn-outs), with Yunait’s main backers and founder now holding shares in Bownty.
Trendsonline has a longer story on this as well.
