App marketing and analytics firm Localytics acquires A/B testing startup Splitforce

Mobile A/B testing startup Splitforce announced today it has been acquired by marketing and analytics platform Localytics for an undisclosed sum.

US-based Localytics last month completed a US$35 million series D funding round from Sapphire Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Polaris Partners. Splitforce co-founders Zac Aghion and David Ruiz will join the Localytics team.

Splitforce is now headquartered in the US, but the startup was originally founded iten Beijing, graduated from local accelerator program Chinaccelerator, and is backed by investors from both China and Taiwan. Aghion told Tech in Asia shortly after completing a seed round that he made the move because "there’s a greater appetite for analytics and business intelligence solutions in the US market than there is in China."

In a nutshell, Splitforce is a testing tool that allows mobile developers to target subsets of users with specific alterations to an app, such as the color of a button or the font in a menu. Based on the data collected on user behavior, Splitforce will suggest which color or font to use. One of Splitforce’s flagship features is called auto-optimization, which narrows down the options quickly by eliminating poorly performing variants automatically.

See: From PowerPoint to product in six months: the birth of Splitforce

Localytics will use Splitforce’s technology to help uncover insights that can predict user behavior. App marketers and product managers can use these insights to personalize the advertisements and marketing messages seen by end users.

"Apps have dramatically increased consumers’ expectations for experiences catered to their individual needs, while giving businesses a new dataset to tap into for better decisioning," says Raj Aggarwal, CEO of Localytics, in today’s press release. "We’re focused on helping businesses turn that data into personalized engagement, and Splitforce has the best team and technology in place to deliver on the cutting edge of that mission: predictive app marketing."

Aghion tells Tech in Asia, "Localytics has seen major adoption in Asia, especially the Indian market and China." Splitforce’s ability to test a specific language or region will come in handy here. Among Localytics biggest clients in the region is India’s TaxiForSure, the taxi-hailing app which was recently bought by rival Ola for US$200 million.

Localytics states it is used in more than 32,000 apps on 2.3 billion devices. Its clients include ESPN, eBay, Fox, and the New York Times. Splitforce’s clients include Burpple, Pickatale, and Freecharge.