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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, January 13, 2010
CitySquares buys local search firm Yokel.com
By Mass High Tech staff
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CitySquares Online Inc. has bought a fellow Boston-based local search firm with its acquisition of Yokel.com, announced today.
While CitySquares focuses on hyperlocal search, Yokel focuses on local product search, a segment within the larger local search segment. Founded in 2005 by Scott Randall and Don Zereski, Yokel’s search lets users look for a product within a particular geography.
“With the acquisition of Yokel, we are able to increase foot traffic to merchants by driving those searching for products online to their stores,” according to CitySquares co-founder and CEO Ben Saren in a statement.
CitySquares Online lets users find, rate and review businesses, while businesses may customize their site listing with advertising, email newsletters, video, content management and offline tools.
No financial terms of the acquisition were disclosed and a phone call to Yokel’s Randall was not returned.
Yokel is the fourth startup for Randall, who has a solid track record as an entrepreneur. In 1994 he started NECX Direct, an online computer product firm that was later acquired by Gateway Inc. for what Randall recalls to be about $100 million. He also founded FairMarket Inc., a maker of Internet-based auction software he established in 1997 and later sold to eBay for $4.5 million.
CitySquares Online, which was also founded in 2005, is a privately held company that has taken in funding from eCoast Angel Network, as well as Jonathan Kraft, president of the New England Patriots, and Mark Cuban, Internet and entertainment entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Its co-founders, Saren and Bob Leland, initially launched websites for seven neighborhoods in Somerville and Cambridge and quickly expanded to cover 25 separate communities from South Boston to the Allston-Brighton area.
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