Where, Inc. was a location-based media company in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. Their main products were the WHERE consumer application and WHERE Ads, a hyper-local ad network that connected merchants with local audiences.
PayPal
PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...
announced its acquisition of Where, Inc. in 2011 for $135 million.
History
Where, Inc. was founded in 2004 under the name Communications, Inc. by partners, Geoff Palmer, Frank Schroth, and Alan Phillips. spent its early days creating family tracking services as well as building location-based applications for companies such as
MapQuest
MapQuest (stylized as mapquest) is an American free online web mapping service. It was launched in 1996 as the first commercial web mapping service. MapQuest vies for market share with competitors such as Google Maps and Here.
History
MapQuest's ...
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
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
,
Yellow Pages
The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...
and
Zipcar
Zipcar is an American car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition to ...
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
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
contested due to its last syllable of "book".
The company was venture-backed by
Kodiak Venture Partners,
Grand Banks Capital and
Venrock
Venrock (portmanteau of Venture and Rockefeller) is a venture capital firm formed in 1969 to build upon the successful investing activities of the Rockefeller family that began in the late 1930s. It has offices in Palo Alto, California, New York ...
and based in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Prior to its acquisition by
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
in 2011, several industry experts sat on its board including
Craig Forman
Craig Forman (born 1961, in New York City) is a partner at NextNews Ventures in San Francisco and past President and Chief Executive Officer of McClatchy, operator of 30 media companies in 29 U.S. markets in 14 states. Forman is a non-resident fel ...
and
Jim Bankoff
James Philip Bankoff (born December 23, 1969) is an American businessman who is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vox Media. He previously worked for AOL and joined Vox Media's predecessor, '' SB Nation'', in 2009 ...
, CEO of
Vox Media
Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...
.
Products
Where.com
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
WHERE Ads is a hyper-local ad network that localizes traditional
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
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
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 W ...
(PPMN).
Patents
The firm possesses several patents including one for geo-fencing location technology and one for auto-snap location technology.
Availability
WHERE is available in North America and can be downloaded for a monthly fee from the
Android Market
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...
,
BlackBerry App World
BlackBerry World (previously known as BlackBerry App World) is an application distribution service, aka an 'app store', and application by BlackBerry Limited; for BlackBerry 10 devices, the BlackBerry PlayBook, and a majority of BlackBerry OS devi ...
, iOS
App Store
An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
, and
Palm App Catalog
webOS, also known as LG webOS and previously known as Open webOS, HP webOS and Palm webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices such as smart TVs that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially ...
. WHERE is also available from the AT&T MEdia Mall, T-Mobile web2go, and VZW V Cast Apps.
Wireless carriers —
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
,
Boost Mobile Boost Mobile may refer to:
* Boost Mobile (Australia), an Australian mobile virtual network operator
* Boost Mobile (United States), an American mobile virtual network operator owned by Dish Wireless
* Spark New Zealand
Spark New Zealand Limit ...
,
Helio,
MetroPCS
Metro by T-Mobile (formerly known as MetroPCS and also known simply as Metro) is an American prepaid wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommunications network in the U ...
,
Sprint,
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the divi ...
,
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
Mobile smartphone devices —
Android,
BlackBerry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...
,
iPhone,
Palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
,
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7 is the first release of the Windows Phone mobile client operating system, released worldwide on October 21, 2010, and in the United States on November 8, 2010. It runs on the Windows CE 6.0 kernel.
It received multiple large upda ...
PayPal/eBay acquisition
Management team
PayPal acquired Where.com in 2011. At the time, the management consisted of the following:
* Walt Doyle, CEO
* Jerry King, COO
* Ivan Mitrovic, CTO
* Mok Oh, Chief Innovation Officer
* David Chang, VP, Product
* Dan Gilmartin, VP, Marketing
* Josh Summers, VP, Ad Operations
* Nataly Kogan, VP, Consumer Experience
* Ron Braunfeld, VP of Business Development
* Doug Hurd, VP of Business Development, Carrier & OEM
* Niall Hawkins, VP of Finance
* Arik Keller, Senior Director, Merchant Services
* Jim Caralis, Director, Consumer Product
* Craig Forman, Executive Chairman
Mergers & acquisition comparables
In the mobile industry, there have been several notable acquisitions of Boston area startups by larger technology companies:
*
VeriSign
Verisign Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, United States that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the , , and gener ...
's acquisition of
m-Qube for $250M in 2006
*
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017 ...
's acquisition of
Third Screen Media
Third Screen Media is a mobile advertising company based in the United States. It was acquired by AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online se ...
for $107M in 2007
* Nokia's acquisition of
Enpocket Enpocket was a global mobile media company providing integrated entertainment and mobile marketing services. The company was founded in 2001, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Nokia acquired the company in 2007 and merged it into its Services ...
in 2007
*
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
's acquisition of Quattro Wireless for $275M in 2010
*
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
's acquisition of
Crashlytics
Crashlytics was a Boston, Massachusetts-based software company founded in May 2011 by entrepreneurs Wayne Chang and Jeff Seibert. Crashlytics helps collecting, analyzing and organizing app crash reports.
Its main product is a software develop ...
for $100M in 2013
*
Millennial Media
One by AOL, formerly known as Millennial Media, is an advertising company that places display ads on mobile devices (mobile marketing).
History
One by AOL was founded as Millennial Media in May 2006 by Paul Palmieri and Chris Brandenburg. T ...
's acquisition of
Jumptap
One by AOL, formerly known as Millennial Media, is an advertising company that places display ads on mobile devices (mobile marketing).
History
One by AOL was founded as Millennial Media in May 2006 by Paul Palmieri and Chris Brandenburg. Th ...
for $225M in 2013
* Millennial Media's acquisition of
Nexage for $108M in 2014
Post-acquisition
Unlike many other acquisitions in the mobile industry, WHERE continued to grow its Boston-based presence after its acquisition. In January 2012, PayPal President
Scott Thompson, local executives Walt Doyle, and David Chang met with
Governor
Deval Patrick
Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...
to discuss an expansion of California-based PayPal into Boston. After exploring nearly a dozen potential new office sites in Boston, PayPal selected
One International Place
One International Place is a Postmodern skyscraper in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1987, and designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects – whose principals are Philip Johnson and John Burgee – it is Boston's 7 ...
as its new location for its Boston headquarters.
In 2013, the eBay Boston office houses several operating entities including PayPal,
StubHub
StubHub is an American ticket exchange and resale company. It provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater, and other live entertainment events. It is the world's largest ticket marketplace. While the company ...
, and Start Tank.
Start Tank
The Start Tank is a
business incubator
Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture ca ...
hosted by PayPal, which offers free co-working space for early-stage startups.
Inception
Start Tank originated in Boston and expanded to Europe and Asia. With 20 startups, representing over 80 people, Start Tank Boston is unique in its size—one of the largest facilities in Massachusetts that has been dedicated to startups by a corporate entity. There are several similar efforts at eBay including Friends of eBay in New York and PayPal Startup Blueprint, and PayPal incubator in Chennai. These are part of a broader growing trend of
business incubators
Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture ca ...
and
seed accelerator
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often g ...
s sponsored by corporate entities and technology companies.
The Start Tank was officially unveiled during the PayPal Boston launch event with Boston Mayor
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three ...
and Secretary
Greg Bialecki in February 2013. The first class of startups consisted of 15 companies based in the Boston area. The second class started in September 2013 and consisted of 22 startups. A number of these startups gained market traction, raised funds of their own, and soon graduated from the program.
Expansion
The Start Tank gained greater visibility in the Boston area, and by time the third class moved in during March 2014, the program became more selective, accepting only 14 out of 80 applications. It was later named as one of Boston Globe's Game Changers. In summer 2014, the program partnered with
The Ad Club to add events such as the Brand-a-thon to engage with the startup ecosystem and expanded globally to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. Later that year, the Start Tank program became more competitive, accepting 11% of its applicants in its fourth class. At this time, Start Tank was nominated as a 50 on Fire finalist. In 2016, the program expanded to
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
Founder
The Start Tank was founded by PayPal executive David Chang, who was named to Boston Business Journal's annual Power 50 List of influential Bostonians after its creation. In 2015, as part of the corporate separation of PayPal from eBay, approximately one-third of the staff in the PayPal Boston office was eliminated, leaving the future of Start Tank uncertain. It was later revealed that the Boston-based entity was split off and was acquired by
MassChallenge
MassChallenge is a global, zero-equity startup accelerator, founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009.
MassChallenge is headquartered in Boston's Seaport District in the Innovation and Design Building, and has additional U.S. locations in Texas ...
.
References
External links
*
PayPal Start TankiPhone App Store featuring WHEREBlackberry Application Store featuring WHERE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Where.Com
BlackBerry software
Discontinued iOS software
Internet properties established in 2004
Mass media companies of the United States
Android (operating system) software
PayPal
2011 mergers and acquisitions