LinkedIn made news yesterday when they announced their acquisition of Newsle, a startup with an algorithm that scours the web to find news that mentions specific people that the user is connected to or interested in and offers the news in real-time.
Newsle offers users an easy way to stay up-to-date on friends, colleagues or influential figures by letting them access stories, blog posts and articles that mention their people of interest without having to search all over the web for the information.
Details about the deal were not released. LinkedIn plans to work with the Newsle team to figure out the best way to integrate the technology. Until then, Newsle will continue to run on its own.
Technology was one of the things that attracted LinkedIn to Newsle. In a blog post, LinkedIn mentions its appreciation for Newsle’s algorithms that allow users to receive targeted news as soon as it is published.
Newsle co-founders Axel Hansen and Jonah Varon and their team of four engineers are all moving to the LinkedIn together.
The startup has 2 million users after three years of being in business. Newsle received funding from Advance Publications, Transmedia Capital, SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Maveron.
Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn’s head of content products, said in LinkedIn’s blog post that this acquisition would help users become “more productive and successful.”
Newsle echoed the sentiment on their own blog, stating how they began the company with the goal to offer targeted news about the people that matter to users.
“LinkedIn is equally passionate about offering insights that can help professionals better do their jobs and will help us accelerate our efforts by making Newsle available to its members,” the blog post says.
