• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, September 5, 2013

Mobile marketing solutions provider Amobee, a SingTel Digital Life Group division, has acquired the mobile RTB company that only recently emerged from beta, Gradient X. Amobee says the acquisition adds to their existing platform the ability for clients to use real-time bidding across multiple channels, including video and HTML5. Gradient X also has layers of data and analytics that will enhance targeting and optimization capabilities for Amobee customers.

Gradient X only brought its RTB platform widely into the market and out of beta in June. It claimed to be working already with brands such as Jeep, Audi, Western Union, Microsoft and Toyota. The company may be known best for the notables from the online data and ad-targeting world among its management team: CTO Michael Lum (formerly of OpenX), CIO Julie Mattern (a co-founder of Rubicon Project) and CEO Brian Baumgart (former chief strategy officer at Adconion Direct).

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Gradient X was founded only a year ago and attracted funding from GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, among others. It is based in Santa Monica. 

The acquisition reflects a general trend in the mobile industry to erect one-stop solutions for clients and minimize the notorious complexity and fragmentation of this environment.