Germany’s Xing is making another acquisition, as it continues competing with LinkedIn in the professional networking space.
It’s buying online event registration and ticketing service Amiando for €5.1 ($6.74/£4.27) million and a possible further €5.25 ($6.94/£4.4) million if targets are met by 2013.
Xing has bought several smaller, professional networking sites in emerging markets over the last couple of years – Spain’s eConozco and Neurona before Turkey’s Cember for a combined €14 ($18.5/£11.73) million, plus social news startup Socialmedian for $4 (£2.54) million.
But this one is outside that market per se and seems designed to augment Xing’s range of networking services with events, not just to extend its reach in to other countries.
Xing CEO Stefan Gross-Selbeck (pictured): “In 2009 alone, our members organized and marketed more than 150,000 events via the Xing platform. From now on, we can offer them all of the services they need including efficient registration, ticketing and billing. This in turn allows us to tap into a highly lucrative and market currently experiencing rapid growth.”
Munich-based Amiando is a kind of modern Eventbrite, with 35 staff.
In the deal, Xing was advised by Altium, Amiando was ådvised by Parklane Capital.