Today Yandex, the Russian search giant, announced the acquisition of Israeli startup KitLocate, the developer of an energy-efficient geolocation technology for mobile devices. The solution provides location capabilities, including geo-fencing, motion detection and social location, for location-based apps on the user’s iOS or Android smartphone.
Furthermore, it allows location-based apps to request the device’s geographic coordinates less frequently “without losing precision, which considerably extends the phone’s or tablet’s life between charges,” according to the startup. While doing this, last but not least, KitLocate’s solution consumes “less than 1% of battery power per hour.”
KitLocate’s technology has already been implemented in several mobile apps. One of them helps drivers find available parking spaces in their immediate vicinity. Another one, in the field of financial services, uses KitLocate’s technology to deliver its offers to users’ phones based on their current location.
Effective consumer marketing is based on location intelligence, the Israeli startup believes.
The Israeli technology will be used, first of all, to enhance Yandex’s mobile search app, Yandex spokesman Vladimir Isaev told East-West Digital News. “This solution will let us both provide geo-targeted search results and keep the user happy because we will save his phone/tablet battery,” he said.
KitLocate’s team has now joined Yandex as a part of the latter’s mobile search team, while keeping its office in Tel Aviv. “Their solution will continue to be available for implementation in other location-based apps that don’t require continuous geo-tracking,” Yandex stated.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Isaev said that the Russian company had acquired KitLocate in its entirety. The deal, which amounted to “several million US dollars,” is a combination of cash and performance-based and deferred compensation, he added.
Yandex’s third investment in Israel
In 2010 Yandex invested in another Israeli startup: Face.com (initially known as Vizi Labs), a developer of facial recognition technologies which the Russian company sold to Facebook in 2012.
Further along, in 2012, the Russian company invested some tens of thousands of dollars in TimeBooker, an Israeli startup that is developing an innovative booking solution for small and mid-sized service companies. Yandex has kept a small stake in the company so far.
“Yandex looks for great developers and locations for its R&D teams around the world. Israel with its thriving high-tech industry, impressive academic scene and lively startup community has a lot of potential in terms of human resource,” stated Roman Chernin, Head of Search at Yandex.
The Russian company also has R&D offices in Switzerland (Zurich), the US (Palo-Alto) and Germany (Berlin).
