India-based data research company Profoundis, a graduate of software company Microsoft’s accelerator program, has been acquired by contact management provider FullContact, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The size of the transaction has not been disclosed. The two businesses had been partners for a year prior to the acquisition.
Launched in 2012, Profoundis’ flagship product, Vibe, relies on algorithms to collect information about leads from the public web. Human data researchers than verify the leads before delivering the details to clients.
Profoundis graduated from Microsoft Accelerator in 2013 and closed a seed round in 2014, though details remain undisclosed.
FullContact will integrate Vibe into its own suite, which focuses on helping companies manage relationships and contacts. The acquisition will help the firm compete with LinkedIn, the professional social network that is in the process of being bought by Microsoft for $26.2bn.
The 70 team members employed by Profoundis will join FullContact but most will remain in their current office in Kerala, which will become FullContact’s Indian headquarters.
The office is expected to grow to several thousand staff over the next few years, as customer support, localisation and business teams are added.
Arjun Pillai, co-founder and CEO of Profoundis, said: “Becoming part of the FullContact team allows us to further execute on our mission globally, and together, our users will benefit by having more detailed information about their contacts, allowing them to be even more awesome with people.”