Yahoo Buys Whereonearth For Local Search

Yahoo has acquired a small UK company called Whereonearth to help improve its local search and mobile LBS. The company, which has 25 employees, has had a limited licensing deal with Yahoo since 2000.
Whereonearth specializes in location-based Internet services, including a sophisticated database of geographical locations that will let users search for local goods and services without entering a zip code or post code.
The rationale, from Yahoo’s own search blog: “In an offline world 80-90% of purchases happen within 8-10 miles of your home. We believe this will carry over into the online world and in an increasingly personalized internet, users should expect their search results to reflect their lives more precisely. Same for advertisers — they need to target users with more meaningful, relevant ads based on the user’s locality.”
The London-based company, formed in 1995, has venture investments from Elderstreet Capital Partners, MJ Technologies, and Reuters Venture Capital.

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