PlayHaven, Kontagent Merger To Form Mobile Gamer Targeting Powerhouse

PlayHaven and Kontagent are merging in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the companies announced today. The two are both in the mobile gaming analytics market, but with complementary specializations. PlayHaven helps mobile gaming developers identify big-spending users so developers can target promotions at them. Kontagent supplies 360-degree analytics to developers for insights into user information and behavior.

Together the companies are poised to become the "800-pound gorilla" in the mobile gaming analytics field, as PlayHaven CEO and future CEO of the combined company Andy Yang put it. PlayHaven's expertise in targeted promotions and Kontagent's expertise in all-over analytics will make the merged beast the unified go-to source for many of the largest mobile game developers.

The deal will not affect developers or users right away, but the two companies are already "heads down" on integrating their respective products and services, according to Kontagent. There is reportedly little to no overlap in the companies' specific wheelhouses, meaning there will be no layoffs and no redundancies. Instead the merged company will pool their 160 employees to deliver a unified product through 22,000 apps and 400 million monthly active users.

While Yang will take the helm as CEO of the merged company, Kontagent's CEO Josh Williams will be the chief technology officer and chairman of the board of directors. Kontagent is known in the industry for providing user analytics to mobile gaming giants like EA, Zynga, and Tencent. From the gamer standpoint, this merger will likely mean greater and greater levels of advertising and promotional targeting of you the consumer as time goes on.

SOURCE: TechCrunch