Where.com
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| Private, venture-backed | |
| Industry | Mobile GPS application development |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
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Key people
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Walt Doyle, CEO, David Chang COO |
| Website | www |
Where, Inc. was a location-based media company in North America. Their main products were the WHERE consumer application and WHERE Ads, a hyper-local ad network that connected merchants with local audiences. PayPal announced its acquisition of Where, Inc. in 2011 for $135 million.
Where, Inc. was founded in 2004 under the name uLocate Communications, Inc. by partners, Geoff Palmer, Frank Schroth, and Alan Phillips. uLocate spent its early days creating family tracking services as well as building location based applications for companies such as MapQuest and Helio. In 2007, WHERE launched as a location-based mobile service for consumers.
WHERE provides hyper-local information and user generated content about weather, news, movies, restaurant and business reviews, cheap gas, coupons and offers, traffic, etc. Brands such as Starbucks, Yellow Pages and Zipcar use WHERE to reach local audiences by providing data for various features within WHERE. For example, a Starbucks feature lets users search for and find directions to the Starbucks nearest their current location. In 2010, the company grew to over 50 people, moving into larger facilities in Boston. During this year, it launched the Placebook feature, which Facebook contested due to its last syllable of "book".
The company was venture-backed by Kodiak Venture Partners, Grand Banks Capital and Venrock and based in Boston. Prior to its acquisition by eBay in 2011, several industry experts sat on its board including Craig Forman and Jim Bankoff, CEO of Vox Media.
The consumer site Where.com launched in March 2010. The Website is a local search and recommendation portal that allows people to find local events, read reviews and other business information, and write their own reviews. On Where.com, people can also create their own user accounts or use their current WHERE mobile application account information to build a personal profile.
WHERE Ads is a hyper-local ad network that localizes traditional advertising techniques with improved performance for better results. Ads engage consumers through location relevance, design optimizing, and delivery format flexibility. In May 2012, WHERE Ads became PayPal Media Network (PPMN), with multi-media solutions that increase awareness for retailers, manufacturers, and restaurants and drive consumer transactions. As one of the major location-targeted mobile advertising networks, they believe that location is one of the most relevant targeting parameters available for advertising on a mobile device and helping drive consumers to engage with brands online and offline.
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Wikipedia