Last month, it emerged that Google plans to acquire Dublin retail tech start-up Pointy. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the deal is set to close in the coming weeks.
Pointy, which is headquartered near Connolly Station, has developed a solution to help local bricks-and-mortar stores with a way to make all of their inventory visible online, to help them compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon.
The company has created a box device that connects to a store’s barcode scanner and automatically lists the products online, optimising them for search engines so that when customers search for products, they find results from local stores.
‘An incredible adventure’
In a statement, Google said that Pointy has been a key partner for years, making it easier for local retailers to showcase their offerings on Google. The tech giant said that Pointy has “helped thousands of local retailers bring their product inventory online”.
Peter Chane, senior director of local SMB products at Google, said: “We’re looking forward to working with Pointy to help even more local retailers bring their product inventory online.”
In a separate statement, Pointy said: “The last six years have been an incredible adventure, and today marks the start of a new chapter. From small beginnings, we’re very proud to serve local retailers in almost every city and every town in the US and throughout Ireland.
“Many incredibly talented people have joined our team, we’ve received the backing of an amazing group of investors, and formed some fantastic partnerships. It is a great pleasure to work on something that helps local businesses in towns and cities everywhere.”
‘A long way to go’
The founders of Pointy, Charles Bibby and Mark Cummins, said: “By joining forces, we will be able to help people discover local stores and products on a much larger scale. We think this is the right way to accomplish what we set out to do – to bring the world’s retailers online and give them the tools they need to thrive.
“Today is a big step forward for Pointy, but there is still a very long way to go. We’re as excited about the future as when we first started.”
Pointy has raised $19.2m since it was founded in 2014, from investors including Frontline Ventures, Polaris Partners, Vulcan Capital and Audrey Capital. Cummins’ previous business, mobile visual search start-up Plink, was acquired by Google in 2010.
Kelly Earley
This article first appeared on www.siliconrepublic.com and can be found at:
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/dublin-startup-acquired-by-google-pointy
03/02/2020
Ireland
