Web host and domain name registrar
GoDaddy has acquired San Francisco-based business finder
Locu. The company, whose head offices are in Scottsdale, Arizona, made the acquisition to strengthen its "digital identity portfolio".
GoDaddy is recognized as one of the world's leading hosting and domain registration providers. Marketing campaigns that include risqué Super Bowl commercials featuring the likes of female Indy racer Danica Patrick have made the company an instantly recognizable brand both throughout the United States and abroad. The company prides itself on offering smaller companies everything they need to facilitate a worthwhile online presence. Its purchase of Locu underscores GoDaddy's intention to be the Internet's leader facilitator for small businesses.
Locu helps a range of service businesses (restaurants, spas, salons, accountants, photographers, etc.) promote their services. Established at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2011, Locu allows business owners to automatically create, manage and update menus and service lists that appear online through a desktop computer, smartphone or any other online device. Its services are currently utilized by around 30,000 businesses that promote services across the Locu partner network. The company has established partnerships with social network sites including Facebook and Foursquare and it is currently reaching 200-million consumers per month. Locu had previously been integrated into the Website Builder solution GoDaddy's customers use to create websites.
"Locu epitomizes what GoDaddy is all about -- both companies are hell-bent on helping the 'little guy' thrive on the Internet," explained Blake Irving, CEO at GoDaddy. "Locu is comprised of amazing technologists who have taken the very complex problem of helping small businesses 'get found' wherever consumers are looking and are solving it through elegant, technology-based services. We are welcoming some of the brightest technology minds on the planet to our GoDaddy family."
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