Yelp Acquires Wifi Marketing Company Turnstyle Analytics for $20 Million Cash

Yelp this week acquired Turnstyle Analytics, a wifi marketing company, for $20 million in cash. The addition of Turnstyle strengthens Yelp’s position as a customer acquisition platform for local businesses, expanding its offering to include tools for customer retention and loyalty.

Founded in Toronto in 2012, Turnstyle supports 3,500 business locations worldwide. The startup’s core technology allows consumers to tap into free guest wifi while helping businesses re-engage those customers in the future via email. Businesses can build customer contact lists and access analytics that provide insight into visit frequency and duration.

“We’re excited to expand our product offering for local businesses through this acquisition. Turnstyle helps connect businesses to consumers through free public wifi, and is an effective retention and loyalty program that helps businesses be more successful,” said Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s chief executive officer.

“Since our founding, Turnstyle has focused on building the best wifi marketing service to help businesses,” said Devon Wright, Turnstyle’s chief executive officer. “This is an exciting opportunity to expand and leverage Yelp’s resources and capabilities; together we’ll be able to help even more local businesses improve their customer retention, driving more repeat business.”

https://borndigital.com/2016/09/06/data-analytics-startup-raises-70-million