Tuesday, February 14, 2012

MyMediaInfo parent bought by Thomson Reuters

By Patricia Resende, Correspondent

RedEgg Solutions Inc., a software company which serves marketing and public relations agencies, has caught the attention of Thomson Reuters. The media giant today acquired the Waltham-based business for an undisclosed amount.

Serial entrepreneur Gaugarin Oliver and co-founder Eric Hill launched the company in 2006 with a handful of employees and have since grown the business to more than 325 people who operate out of the company’s two offices in Waltham and Nagercoil, India where Oliver is from.

Since its launch, RedEgg has provided its MyMediaInfo product to more than 1,000 clients who use the database to access media contacts and editorial contacts, according to a Reuters news release.

Oliver teamed up with Hill, who worked as a sales director at Cision and One Source Information, to launch RedEgg, which symbolizes prosperity and long life in Chinese culture. RedEgg was not Oliver’s first venture. In October 2001 Oliver launched Lojalis, a Littleton-based company which serviced wireless carriers.

“I hope this is a catalyst for IT-based economic development in Nagercoil,” Oliver told friends, family and business acquaintances in an email message. “I’m very proud of our teams in India and the (United States) to whom we owe all this.

“This is a story of two lucky entrepreneurs who were successful even in this tough economic environment,” Oliver added.

Several hundred employees will remain in the office in Nagercoil while a small team will continue operations in the United States, according to Reuters spokesperson Yvonne Diaz.

“In the case of Nagercoil, a small town in the southern tip of India, RedEgg and now Thomson Reuters are the pioneers to bring some attention to this industrially under developed, low-cost region,” she said. “Nagercoil has fantastic talent (one million population, 100,000 graduates every year from the region) and tremendous potential to grow.”