Social Networking App Skout Acquires Nightlife App Nixter
Mobile Social Networking App Skout Acquires Nightlife App Nixter by Kim-Mai Cutler
Skout, a social networking app that’s backed by $22 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, just acquired nightlife app Nixter.
Skout’s CEO Christian Wiklund (pictured above) said he pursued the deal to find a better way to marry offline and online interactions in Skout’s app with real-world events. While Skout is an app that helps connect strangers all over the world, Nixter’s platform lets party seekers find upcoming nightlife events in their city, buy tickets, see the guest list or get VIP accommodations.
“This will be a huge value-add service to our users. I also think it’s highly monetizable and it will build even stronger loyalty from our users,” Wiklund said.
Wiklund didn’t close the amount Skout paid for the company. The deal was a mixture of cash and stock.
Nixter, which came out of Santiago, Chile, was founded about two years ago and it now operates in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It had raised about $200,000 in angel funding, largely from a group of angel investors down in Chile.
The company’s co-founder Francisco Saez says the company weighed a bunch of different options. They’re competing against a number of other apps including San Francisco-based WillCall, which focuses on live events.
“We had other offers, but we worried about losing a lot of power and autonomy until we started talking with Skout,” Saez said.
Wiklund said that Nixter will be kept as a separate app and brand, although it will be heavily integrated into Skout.
As for Skout, while Wiklund didn’t share overall audience numbers, he said the company hit profitability about six months ago. The app sells points, which are like a virtual currency that can be redeemed to unlock special features like the ability to see who has checked you out. Wiklund says that 30 percent of Skout’s users are in the U.S., while the remainder are abroad.