Location Labs gets info on 15 million local businesses from CityGrid Media

Location Labs, a company that helps developers create location-based mobile applications, today announced a partnership with CityGrid Media, a subsidiary of Web giant  IAC and supplier of local content and advertising to other sites. The partnership will give Location Labs access to information on more than 15 million local businesses.

Location Labs offers three main service. Each gives developers a way to develop location-based apps that generate revenue. Geofencing tells applications when a user enters a specific area, while the universal location service can remotely locate phones within a network of 180 million consumers. Lastly, privacy management lets users control their location is shared.

With the new information, Location Labs can now deliver to developers what it’s calling a “place-based predictive model” of using user’s location behavior to send more relevant content and ads.

A recent example of Location Labs tools can be found in a recent partnership with Placecast for their ShopAlerts service, a mobile marketing tool that businesses can customize, which uses location-triggered text messages sent from brands to consumers who opt into the service. It does not require end users to download an app to their phone.

If CityGrid Media doesn’t sound familiar, you might remember them as CitySearch, a local guide website. The company rebranding is a culmination of a company revamp that began almost three years ago.

Location Labs also rebranded itself recently, changing from WaveMarket. While one might think a name change comes about when a company is in trouble or changing focus, WaveMarket claims it was profitable — 10 million in revenue – and even thinking about an IPO.

The San Francisco-based company has raised $26 million from venture capitalists including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Intel Capital.