Keylime Acquired by
Overture (NASDAQ: OVER)
ASP’s superior data collection technology validated through
Acquisition by pay-for-performance search market leader.
On January 2, 2003 web analytics company, Keylime Software, Inc., was acquired by the Internet’s leading pay-for-performance search services company, Overture Services, Inc., a Kline Hawkes California L.P. investment.
Located in Carlsbad, California, Keylime Software, Inc. provides a new generation of ASP-based website visitor-analysis tools and services. The Company analyzes website effectiveness by leveraging live session collection technology with advanced data management services that enable corporations to quantify returns on investment in technology and correlate web site visitor behavior to specific business objectives.
By utilizing Keylime’s suite of tools, companies can extrapolate vital e-business information such as: tracking where website traffic originates, determining who sources the best customers, understanding what content customers access the most or identifying which advertising campaigns drive the most sales. Because Keylime’s third generation technology captures the data directly from its clients’ websites, these reports can be generated in real-time, as opposed to capturing the data through the more cumbersome and error prone log files, as found in most of the competition’s server-side solutions. Furthermore, since Keylime’s tool set functions as an ASP, Keylime not only enjoys the benefits of monthly recurring revenues, it can get new customers up and running in a matter of days, as opposed to weeks.
The benefits of Keylime’s services are reflected in an impressive client list that includes such prominent companies as: Adobe Systems, American Stock Exchange, BusinessWeek, Hewlett-Packard, GE Capital, National Geographic, Farmers Insurance Group and Nestle. Yet the recent down turn in the economy, and the overcrowding of the web analytics space, prompted Keylime to reconsider its role in the market, as Keylime board member and Kline Hawkes Partner, Nick Memmo, explained.
“Recently Keylime was faced with the dual challenges of sustained price pressure for its services and a lengthening sales cycle, which placed enormous pressure on the entire web analytics industry. As the economy continued to stall and IT budgets grew leaner, it became increasingly apparent that Keylime would make more sense as a product feature of a larger corporation. The acquisition by Overture made perfect sense. It really is a win-win for both companies. Keylime will help in Overture’s effort to provide branded tools to advertisers, which in-turn will help those advertisers better understand the value of Overture marketing campaigns. And for its part, Keylime can continue to grow and develop its leading edge technology inside Overture’s larger corporate umbrella.”
“Overture, with a current market cap of over $1.3 billion, could have purchased any one of a dozen web analytics companies,” noted Keylime CEO Steve Mitgang. “So it was extremely satisfying they chose Keylime. The acquisition was a clear vindication of our superior data collection technology. Yet due to the difficult M&A environment this sale required an enormous amount of creativity on both sides and I’m thankful for all the advice and investment strategy Kline Hawkes brought to the table. Without their help I’m not sure this deal would have happened.”