Ukrainian-Polish startup Newzmate has been acquired by Piano Software, a US-based international provider of solutions for digital content management, for an undisclosed amount. Newzmate’s content marketing automation product will be rebranded to ‘Piano ESP’ while the startup’s office in Kyiv (Kiev) will serve as Piano’s representative office in Ukraine.
Asked about the outcome of his investment, Dutch business angel Bas Godska, an early investor in Newzmate, told Ukraine Digital News that the deal brought him “good returns.”
What’s more, Newzmate’s existing investors have received shares in Piano. This will provide “an additional possibility to maximize future returns” in what Godska believes is an “excitingly innovative sector.”
Alexey Chapko, the CEO and co-founder of Newzmate, said he had discussed potential sale of the company “with three companies over the past year and a half,” two from the United States and one in Singapore.
“We chose Piano primarily because we found a great fit market, product vision, values and processes,” he said.
Piano’s CEO Trevor Kaufman stated that his company “is already rapidly changing as a result of [their] work with Newzmate.”
“Our technical roadmap across the company has changed direction, as we all see the benefit of making their messaging and content intelligence a core part of our services. With Newzmate as the foundation, we believe we can create the best tool on the market in this area, and we are focusing our global resources on doing so,” he explained.
As reported by InVenture, the Ukrainian team – now consisting of 12 employees – will “vastly expand” in the future, primarily by hiring technical specialists.
Founded in 2013, Newzmate offers media companies to fully automate online communication with readers, creating a personalized experience and increasing revenue considerably. The company claims to serve 60 online media in 10 countries in America, Europe, Asia and Africa with a total audience of 300 million readers.
Among Newzmate’s historic investors are Happy Farm, Xevin Investments and Microsoft Bizspark as well as Bas Godska and Alexander Baryakh. These investors put $850,000 in the company, including in the form of rendered services.
In 2018, the company tripled its revenue compared with 2017, reports InVenture.
