Airship Acquires App Store Optimization Company Gummicube

Mobile app experience firm Airship announced Wednesday that it has acquired App Store Optimization company Gummicube. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

With the acquisition, the company will combine Gummicube’s ASO technology and Airship’s App Experience Platform to allow brands to optimize value across the entire mobile app lifecycle , driving greater organic growth, ROAS, retention, loyalty and monetization.

Founded in 2009, Gummicube nearly doubled its revenue year-over-year, with nearly three-quarters of total revenue coming from enterprise brands, and plans to nearly double its staff in 2022 to support continued growth, Airship says. 

“Driving consumers to download an app is a critical first step, but keeping them engaged and maximizing value for everyone involved requires leveraging data to demonstrate customer respect and relevance with experiences that reward them for their loyalty,” said Brett Caine, CEO and president, Airship. “Together, Gummicube and Airship enable marketers, product owners and developers to optimize their entire mobile app experience — from the point of discovery to loyalty. This industry-first combination will drive greater app success for brands, and unlock huge value for our business.”

All 80 Gummicube employees have joined Airship, bringing its headcount to 367.  Co-founders Dave Bell and Anh Nguyen have become VPs and co-general managers of the Gummicube division at Airship.

One of Gummicube’s core products is DATACUBE, which aggregates billions of data points from the App Store and Google Play Store to visualize search and behavioral trends. It helps app marketers understand how the app stores merchandise their apps and those of their competitors, to more quickly grow app audiences and market share by optimizing app visibility. 

“Gummicube and Airship are both 100% dedicated to helping mobile apps succeed. Before today, brands had to find their own answers to the two most fundamental questions: one, how do I attract and grow more quality users; and two, how do I retain them and grow value for everyone involved,” said Dave Bell, CEO and co-founder, Gummicube. “Now, our combination will drive more measurable value for customers than anyone else. This has never been done before!”

Gummicube is Airship’s fifth acquisition in the past decade. The company, which acquired the SMS commerce firm ReplyBuy in 2020, acquired the mobile A/B testing platform Apptimize in 2019.