This week, the announcement of a new acquisition hit the wire: search and content marketing agency Covario is to be acquired by media and digital communications company Dentsu Aegis Network by the close of 2014. 

The announcement said that “following the completion of the deal, Covario’s agency business will become part of Dentsu Aegis Network, and will transition toward operating as iProspect – Dentsu Aegis Network’s global digital performance agency.” 

Jeremy Cornfeldt, president of iProspect U.S., said iProspect and Covario are kindred spirits, culturally, “which when united, will create one dynamo agency poised to make waves in the market,” and that “Covario’s San Diego-based headquarters also provides a powerful West Coast presence that is critical for iProspect’s growth.” 

Michael Gullaksen and Jeff Johnson, co-CEOs of Covario, will take on senior executive positions in the new Covario/iProspect organization. 

In a separate announcement, Covario highlighted the future of its SaaS-based platform, Rio SEO.

According to the announcement, Rio SEO will “remain an independent SaaS company and continue to power the software behind Covario clients’ search solutions,” and that it had “raised additional funding from FTV Capital, Dubilier & Co., Voyager Capital and Stratim Capital to pursue further development and sales of its technology platform in the fast-growing areas of local search, mobile search and social media measurement.”

One of the original founders of Covario, Dema Zlotin, will be serve as CEO of Rio SEO moving forward. 

Bill Connard, vice president of local search solutions at Rio SEO, said the platform’s “recent expansion of international business listings management couldn’t have come at a better time. Working with an agency like Covario as it becomes part of the Dentsu Aegis Network’s iProspect global performance agency will expand our reach and help us deliver our local search expertise to customers around the world.”

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. 

The Original Search Marketing Event is Back!
SES Denver (Oct 16) offers an intense day of learning all the critical aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC). The mission of SES remains the same as it did from the start – to help you master being found on search engines. Early Bird rates extended through Sept 19. Register today!