Lenco Mobile and iLoop Mobile, two mobile marketing companies, have announced that they have entered into a merger with the intention of combining their offerings in order to expand their worldwide reach and provide an enhanced solutions suite.
The companies will now be offering MMS messaging, mobile greeting cards, site building, and loyalty program products in the mobile sphere.
iLoop has operations in Mexico, Singapore, and South Africa, while Lenco is based in the United States. That said, iLoop has been providing mobile marketing in the United States for many years, and has a specialty in CRM, mobile messaging, site building, and mobile coupons.
Lenco’s products include customized solutions for specific mobile devices, and it has formed solid relationships with many mobile carriers around the world. Though it’s primary market is in the United States, it does have a number of clients that work internationally and require mobile solutions that will cater to those markets.
When combined, the two businesses will be able to grow their mobile suites to cover a great deal more rich messaging and media, and will have a wider global spread. The merger will make iLoop a subsidy of the publically traded Lenco. The value of the deal has been estimated at $42 million in cash and securities.
Matt Harris, the CEO of iLoop said that though mobile websites and apps do offer consumers a “rich experience”, they are not as far-reaching as messaging. Over the past months, iLoop has used the MMS messaging solutions from Lenco for “a number of our clients to show them how we can now deliver rich media messaging at scale and at highly competitive prices.”
