Urban Airship Acquires Apple Passbook-Focused Startup, Tello

Combining the leading push messaging platform with fast-growing Passbook pass management service will broaden and extend mobile commerce opportunities

PORTLAND, Ore., – December 4, 2012 – Urban Airship, the global leader in mobile push messaging to build relationships with connected consumers, today announced that it has acquired Tello, Inc., a company that streamlines the creation and management of passes for Apple® Passbook®. Tello’s PassTools product has seen rapid adoption since launching on September 19 with thousands of customers including local businesses, retailers, professional sports teams and wireless carriers creating tens of thousands of passes to date.

The acquisition extends Urban Airship’s position in the mobile ecosystem, enabling mobile marketers to reach more consumers—with or without an app—using end-to-end solutions for targeting, messaging, engaging and converting mobile consumers. Through Passbook, companies can reach mobile consumers with coupons, tickets, loyalty cards and more, solving fundamental paper problems of low coupon and loyalty card redemption by having these stored on smartphones, the one device consumers rarely leave home without.

“We love what Tello has created and see tremendous potential for combining our solutions to create the perfect pass solution,” said Scott Kveton, CEO and co-founder, Urban Airship. “The combination of push messaging, passes and location-targeting offer an easy yet sophisticated solution for businesses to drive more successful pass programs.”

“We’ve focused on making it easy for all businesses to create and manage Passbook passes, including the industrial strength security and scalability that many require,” said Joe Beninato, founder and CEO, Tello. “We’ve seen tremendous interest and adoption since launch and are excited to join Urban Airship and amplify that momentum through an end-to-end solution.”

Urban Airship will retain the Tello office in downtown Palo Alto, adding a Silicon Valley location in addition to its office in San Francisco, and will continue to invest heavily in adding to its California teams as well as the company’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Tello’s founder and CEO, Joe Beninato, will join Urban Airship’s management team as GM of Digital Wallet.

About Urban Airship
Urban Airship enables brands to strengthen relationships with their always-connected customers using the most globally deployed mobile push messaging service to spark exceptional experiences, drive app engagement and increase customer loyalty and lifetime value. Billions of push messages are delivered each month with unparalleled speed and scale across all major mobile platforms for leading brands such as CBS Interactive, ESPN, Groupon, shopkick, Walgreens, Warner Bros. and Waze. Complete mobile engagement suites offer easy and effective end-to-end management of the push messaging process from customer and location targeting, to automation and delivery, including message composition, rich landing page creation and analytics to optimize effectiveness. Its investors include Founder’s Co-op, Foundry Group, Intel Capital, salesforce.com, True Ventures and Verizon. For more information, visit www.urbanairship.com and follow us on Twitter @urbanairship.