Shelly Palmer

LinkedIn Acquires Bizo, a Business Marketing Company, for $175M

LinkedIn just announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Bizo, a company that helps advertisers reach businesses and professionals. LinkedIn says the deal is worth around $175 million — 90 percent cash and 10 percent stock. Bizo spun out from business directory ZoomInfo back in 2008. It raised a total of $20 million in venture funding (at least as of its Series B two years ago) from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Venrock, and Crosslink Capital. It also raised $12.5 million in debt. Bizo offers targeting and analytics for display and direct response ads. At the beginning of 2013, the company told me that it brought in $22 million in revenue during the previous year. In a blog post about the acquisition, LinkedIn’s David Thacker pointed to the growth of business-to-business advertising on LinkedIn, particularly of its Sponsored Updates ad unit.

Read the full story at TechCrunch.