Los Angeles-based mobile infrastructure company Phunware acquired TapIt, an Irvine-based mobile-advertising company, through a $23 million deal over the holidays. Deals were signed on December 24 and the transaction was finalized on December 28, but the companies did not make the announcement until January 2.
“It’s always fun to simultaneously get everything prepared the best you possibly can through the holidays while making sure that nobody finds out anything,” Phunware CEO Alan Knitowski said.
The acquisition was a result of various partnerships between Phunware and TapIt over the past year. Knitowski said he became interested in buying TapIt when he finally met TapIt CEO Giancarlo Maniaci and COO Justin Barr at the Siemer-Silicon Beach Summit in October.[ibimage==25326==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-right]
Siemer and Associates advised TapIt during the acquisition, which started to be considered about six months ago. After Phunware’s leadership became seriously interested, the process of acquisition took about 60 days, Knitowski said.
Founded in 2009 by Knitowski and CFO Alan Kane, Phunware specializes in cloud-based infrastructure and its fully integrated platform, Mobile as a Service (MaaS), which allows brands to engage and monetize mobile users. TapIt will become Phunware’s branded mobile advertising network and will now be known as TapIt by Phunware, Knitowski said, in order “to preserve the brand identity of the advertising network for the third parties that use it around the world.”
“TapIt serves two roles: it’s a branded mobile advertising network and for IOS and Android and then, simultaneously, it’s the core engine that drives our MaaS advertising module within our platform,” Knitowski said.
TapIt is adding Amazon, Disney, Toyota, MSNBC, EA Sports and many more names to Phunware’s already powerful list of customers (NFL, CBS, ESPN, Discovery, McDonald’s to name just a few). Phunware has about 115 employees now, 35 of which were previously employed by TapIt. All of TapIt’s facilities in Irvine and employees are being preserved by Phunware, Knitowski said.
Knitowski said he learned a lot about acquisition integration when sold his first company, voiceover IP company Vovida Networks, to Cisco Systems in 2000.
“When TapIt employees show up we’ve already got three ring binders saying ‘Welcome to Phunware’ for every single employee and employee videos with everything from A to Z they could ever ask,” Knitowksi said. “My experience with acquisitions with Cisco made everything a lot better because it’s always terrifying when you come in and someone says you’ve been bought and the immediate thought is ‘Well what does that mean to me and will I still have a job?’”
As far as Phunware’s adjustment to acquiring TapIt, Knitowski puts it simply.
“It’s going ‘phantastically,’” Knitowski said. “Pretty much everything we do at Phunware, we are trying to dominate the mobile cloud.”
