Online marketing company incuBeta has bought a stake in Cape Town rival Quirk eMarketing, as part of a strategy to expand globally and prepare itself to offer Web 2.0 services, the company says.
IncuBeta's empowerment division, incuBeta Intelligent Marketing, will acquire a strategic stake in Quirk (believed to be just less than 30%), for an undisclosed sum. The deal places a value of R15 million on Quirk.
The transaction also brings together two of SA's most prominent Internet personalities - Vinny Lingham, an incuBeta founder and chief strategy officer, and Quirk eMarketing CEO Rob Stokes. Both will continue in their respective roles, although Lingham will also hold a seat on Quirk's board. The deal is effective from 15 August.
A black economic empowerment stake comes through incuBeta's shareholding structure as it is owned by a consortium of investors that includes TEIM Ventures, Southern Cross Capital, Michael Leeman, Lance Katz, Steven Sollinger and founders, Vinny Lingham, Charlene Troskie and Eric Edelstein.
Quirk eMarketing offers an online marketing solution to clients. A particular focus is on natural search, which refers primarily to designing and optimising Web sites that are "Google-friendly" and easily recognisable by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.
"Paid search and natural search are the key elements of all e-commerce strategies and represent a billion dollar industry. While Quirk and incuBeta's areas of expertise differ, they are highly complementary and their modus operandi follows a similar ethos," Lingham says.
Paid search is the general term used for online advertising campaigns, such as the sponsored listings on Google, that operate on a keyword bidding system.
Skills base
Stokes says: "This deal makes so much sense; it addresses Quirk's empowerment strategy and also adds a huge base of skills and resources which our large client base will really see the benefit of."
The companies say they will offer a holistic e-commerce solution as Quirk has a comprehensive e-marketing service and incuBeta has developed a string of global connections alongside its new AJAX-based Web development platform called Synthasite that will be released in the next few months.
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