Groupon has acquired Pelago, maker of location-based social network Whrrl, which is one of the companies that got the money from the iFund.
Whrrl has been used by companies looking to build loyalty and repeat visits. Previously we reported that USA WEEKEND Magazine and Pelago teamed-up to launch a mobile shopper marketing program to give the magazine’s advertisers the opportunity to connect with smartphone users in-home and as they shop in-store.
It is unclear what Groupon will use Whrrl for, but one could imagine Groupon taking advantage of the technology to spice-up its mobile offering, adding check-in capability to its smartphone apps. As a result, participating local business could benefit from extra exposure made possible with social local recommendations.
Existing Whrrl users will be able to continue using the service normally through April 30. In the meantime, the website will have an option to retrieve your data – pretty much everything you ever put into Whrrl.
I love Groupon and I’m definitely looking forward to see what they could make out of Whrrl. Any ideas? Comments form is all yours.
[Via: Pelago]