The Maltese analytics company Hotjar has been acquired by global technology giant Contentsquare, Hotjar’s founder David Darmanin said in a statement.
Founded as a start-up in 2014, Hotjar is a tech tool for small to medium enterprises that allows businesses to better understand their user’s online behaviour and transform that data into better experiences for their customers.
Contentsquare, an international tech company, offers similar services, albeit usually for much larger companies. The company was founded in Paris in 2012 and serves over 750 businesses in 26 countries.
“While the two companies are different in many ways, our visions share a lot in common. In fact, Contentsquare’s vision is to 'deliver better experiences to all' while Hotjar’s original vision back in 2014 spoke of 'democratizing user analytics and feedback',” Darmanin said in a statement.
“Looking back, both visions could not have been more needed in a world where more businesses than ever started putting customers at the center of how they build and innovate their products and services.”
Darmanin added that Hotjar would, for now, continue to operate independently from Contentsquare, with Mohannad Ali continuing to serve as CEO of Hotjar while later moving into a strategic advisory role at both Hotjar and Contentsquare.
“As we reflect on Hotjar’s origins, its journey since, and what’s to come in the future, we are so very excited to write our next chapter with Contentsquare.
"After sharing our just cause with Contentsquare’s leadership team, spending time together, and understanding each others’ visions for the future, we quickly shared in the excitement about how we can pursue our goals as one team, by bringing together our different strengths, perspectives and most importantly, our teams,” Darmanin said.
“As a final note, we reflect on how well the Hotjar core values have guided us throughout our journey these last seven years. We see our next chapter as a great opportunity to put you, our customers, even more at the heart of what we do, whilst being bolder, moving faster and continuing to challenge ourselves to grow.”