UPDATED 08:40 EDT / FEBRUARY 12 2014

Lithium Technologies rumored to be acquiring Klout in $100M deal

klout-thumbLithium Technologies, a company that provides social customer experience management software for the enterprise, is said to have struck a deal to acquire Klout, a service that lets people know how popular they are based on their interactions with various social media platforms.

According to a report from re/code, the deal has been signed but not yet closed, with the value of the acquisition estimated to be at least $100 million, though neither company has so far commented on the report.

The acquisition may be a perfect fit as both companies deal with the social aspect of things. Klouts’ social ranking can help Lithium’s enterprise customers to better engage with their own clients, and allow them to see how popular they are with the masses.

Klout measures people’s influence based on their interactions on social media platforms. This includes things like the number of posts or comments ‘liked’ on Facebook, retweets on Twitter, and other such interactions. To date, Klout’s raised $8.5 million in a round of funding from Kleiner Perkins with the participation of Greycroft Partners in January 2011, plus another $30 million from Kleiner Perkins with the participation of IVP in October 2011, putting the company’s value in the $200 million range.

Since then, Klout has extended its efforts, not only to people who want to know their social standing but also helping to make brands standout through Klout Perks. The point of Klout Perks is to allow companies to give rewards to people who make them relevant, for instance if they tweet about the company. In 2012, Klout acquired Blockboard in the hopes of bringing the service to local and mobile communities, before striking a strategic partnership with Microsoft that allows Klout scores to be seen in Bing searches.

As for Lithium, the company’s value is priced above $150 million after it raised $50 million in what it calls as a “pre-IPO mezzanine financing,” from New Enterprise Associates, Benchmark, Shasta Ventures and others. The estimated price of the Klout acquisition could be more or less than whats been reported, as the company is said to be going public, something that was mentioned back in January 2012.


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