Above: Gift Boogle CEO Eric McAfee (left), and COO Scott Kleist.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Gift Boogle, a startup out of UNC Chapel Hill, has acquired MatchServ, a provider of web-based matching technology and a former strategic partner. MatchServ’s technology will be integrated into Gift Boogle’s gift matching social media application.
The aquisition means MatchServ’s former CEO, Sherard Griffin, joins the Gift Boogle team as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to MatchServ, Sherard was CEO and co-founder of AvanGuard Solutions Inc., a mobile advertising, marketing and entertainment software company.
“Sherard is a master technologist and a strong addition to our team,” said Eric McAfee, Gift Boogle’s CEO. “We were already collaborating on a world-class gift matching platform, and it was a logical next step to bring him and the MatchServ technology on board.”
MatchServ’s technology is a scalable matching platform that can make matches with many different forms of data available on the web.
Gift Boogle’s mission is to help social media users find timely and memorable gifts. The company’s gift recommendation software analyzes data from social media networks to identify the right gift at the right moment. Gift Boogle’s beta offering, initially available as a Facebook app, will debut at the end of September.
“Think of us as the Match.com for gift giving,” said McAfee. “However, rather than relying solely on input from participants, we have the advantage of analyzing the rich data sets available via social media networks to make the right ‘match.’”
Gift Boogle has been selected to present at CED’s 2012 Tech Venture conference Sept. 11 and 12 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The conference brings together investors, entrepreneurs and emerging technology companies from across the country. Selected demo companies network and pitch their products to top venture capitalists, angels, corporate acquirers and prospective customers and partners.
“CED’s Tech Venture conference is the perfect forum to get face to face with individuals and companies who would be most interested in getting involved with a company that is ready to change the way people give and receive gifts online,” said Scott Kleist, Gift Boogle’s COO.
Earlier this year, Gift Boogle was selected to participate in Carolina Launch Pad, UNC’s pre-commercial technology startup incubator, which is housed at the headquarters of UNC’s Renaissance Computing Institute, or RENCI, at the Europa Center office building in Chapel Hill. In addition to office space with advanced technologies and supplies, each company has the chance to consult RENCI technical staff, many of them experts in their fields, and learn from professionals with the UNC Chapel Hill Office of Technology Development (OTD), UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the local business community.
Two other Carolina Launch Pad ventures will be represented at the CED Tech Venture conference: Impulsonic, which provides software tools for synthesis and propagation of sound in video games and acoustics; and Sqord, a recent Launch Pad participant now at Groundwork Labs in Durham that runs an interactive website designed to encourage physical activity in children.
More information:
Gift Boogle: http://www.giftboogle.com/
Carolina Launch Pad: http://carolinalaunchpad.org/
RENCI: http://www.renci.org/
Media Contact:
Eric McAfee, pr@giftboogle.com
888-456-2246
