ShareThis Acquires Socialize, Raises $23 Million

Social-sharing service ShareThis on Wednesday announced raising $23 million in new funding as well as acquiring Socialize, a startup that provides developers a drop-in social platform for mobile applications. The move is aimed at extending the reach of ShareThis beyond the desktop and mobile Web to mobile apps.

ShareThis has developed what it calls a “social quality index” (SQI) to determine engagement levels of audiences across 2.3 million Web sites. With the Socialize acquisition,  the company says publishers will now be able to use its platform to get specific sharing analytics on desktop and mobile in a single dashboard using the SQI as a measure.

That engagement tracking, in turn, is aimed at helping publishers to better optimize and monetize apps. Through the acquisition, Socialize will be merged  into ShareThis' operations and Socialize CEO Daniel Odio will become SVP of strategic partnerships, reporting to ShareThis CEO Kurt Abrahamson.

Separately, ShareThis closed $23 million in a third-round funding led by T-Venture, the venture arm of Deutsche Telekom, and including new investors Harbourton and corporate funds represented by West Capital Advisors. Also participating were prior investors including Blue Chip Venture Company, DFJ, Matthew Pritzker Company, Mercury Fund and RPM Ventures.

The financing brings the company’s total raised to date to $54 million. “The acquisition of Socialize and our new round of funding will accelerate our efforts to deliver an enhanced digital advertising solution for brands, content optimization offerings for publishers and of course, the choice and flexibility consumers want in sharing content that moves them,” said Abrahamson, in a statement.

In connection with the funding, Bernhard Gold of T-Venture will join the company’s board of directors.

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