SUNNYVALE, Calif. & KARLSRUHE, Germany--()--Become, Inc. (http://www.become.com/), today announced the acquisition of Pangora GmbH from Lycos Europe N.V. The acquisition of Pangora, Europe’s largest supplier of white-label comparison shopping solutions, enhances Become.com’s position as a worldwide leader serving major economies in the US, Europe and Asia.
“The acquisiton of Pangora opens the possibility for us to accelerate our localisation strategy within Europe, enabling rapid growth in the UK, France, Italy and in German-speaking countries.”
"Pangora is the ideal partner with which to strengthen our position on the European market," says Michael Yang, founder and CEO of Become.com. "The acquisiton of Pangora opens the possibility for us to accelerate our localisation strategy within Europe, enabling rapid growth in the UK, France, Italy and in German-speaking countries."
"We are pleased that a significant international player has won the sales race for Pangora," said Robin Schönbeck, general manager of Pangora. "The two companies complement each other ideally. This will not only ensure continued high performance for our portal and online shopping clients, but also increase our innovation and growth capabilities."
Following the acquisition, Pangora’s German office will become Become.com’s European headquarters and regional technology development hub. The acquisition of Pangora brings the total employee count for Become.com to approximately 140. The current Pangora management team will remain, led by Robin Schönbeck as general manager, with Kirsten Drössel heading the Portals & Brands department, Jan Schöttelndreier heading Shop Business and Andrea Pabst heading Technology & Innovation.
The transaction will close at the end of October (2009).
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About Become.com
Become.com is a global leader in comparison shopping and lead generation spanning several verticals, including product shopping and education. Become.com delivers qualified leads to businesses and helps consumers find products and services using its world-class search engine. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, CA, with offices in Tokyo, London, Karlsruhe and Milan; Become.com operates numerous sites including become.co.jp, become.co.uk and education.become.com. Become.com was founded in 2004 by Michael Yang, who was also a founder of comparison shopping engine MySimon in 1998. Investors in Become.com include Texas Pacific Group, Transcosmos, and European Founders Fund.
About Pangora
Pangora GmbH, a supplier of online marketplace technologies, offers target group specific solutions for portal operators and online shops with the goal of generating e-commerce sales. Pangora technologies process and combine millions of pieces of product data from over 4000 retailers in Europe. Pangora’s product search and price comparison technologies have already received numerous national and international awards. Among the 70 or more portal clients throughout Europe are household names such as T-Online, Freenet, Payback, PC-Welt.de and Testberichte.de. In addition to this, Pangora operates decido (www.decido.de), a portal for aiding purchasing decisions.
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