Benchmark, Idinvest et al. sell Zenly to Snapchat

While the sale has not yet officially been announced by the sellers, a source familiar with the matter confirmed the deal.

Several news report have mentioned that Zenly could be valued anywhere between $250-350m in the transaction. Idinvest and Benchmark both declined to comment on the transaction when contacted by unquote".

Citing an anonymous source, a Bloomberg report mentioned the acquisition would be financed in cash and shares. 

Created by French entrepreneurs Antoine Martin and Alexis Bonillo in 2011, Zenly enables users to share their location with friends by pinning it on a map.

The startup has received an estimated €32m in funding since inception. Last year, Benchmark led a $22.5m third round to help fund the opening of a San Francisco base – which has yet to take place – and bolster the engineering teams in Zenly's two French offices.

For Snapchat, this latest acquisition enables it to add further functionality to its app. Other recent add-ons include Looksery, acquired for $150m; and Bitsrips, bought for $64.2, and which gave birth to the Bitmoji feature on the app.

Previous funding
Zenly has raised an estimated $35.12m (€32m) in total to date.

In June 2015, Kima Ventures, the venture capital fund of French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, provided an undisclosed round of seed funding to Zenly.

In 2016, US VC firm Benchmark led a $22.5m funding round for Zenly. Jerry Murdock, co-founder of Insight Venture Partners and ex-managing director of the firm until April 2011, made a personal investment in the round, unquote" reported at the time. Insight itself, however, was not involved in the deal. Existing investor Idinvest also backed the round alongside Kima.

In March 2016, the business raised an additional €10m in a funding round led by Idinvest and Kima, with each VC committing an estimated €3m.

Company
Established in 2011, Paris-based Zenly has developed an application allowing smartphone users to locate their friends in real time on a map. The app is currently free of charge. The founders of Zenly previously launched a similar venture, Alert.us, targeting parents who want to keep track of their children's whereabouts.

Zenly has an estimated two million users around the world and had a headcount of 35 in 2016.

People
Kima Ventures – Jean de La Rochebrochard (partner).
Zenly – Antoine Martin, Alexis Bonillo (co-founders).

Advisers
Buyer – Latham & Watkins (legal).
Vendor – Orrick (legal).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• France
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• France
• Venture
• Insight Venture Partners
• IDInvest Partners (AGF Private Equity)