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London-based events startup Yplan bought by Time Out for £1.6m

YPlan team
YPlan has already taken investment from the Angel CoFund

London-based events startup Yplan has been acquired by magazine publisher Time Out for £1.6m.

According to reports, the figure is set to rise to £2m after a year if certain terms of the acquisition are met.

The publisher will not be spending any cash on the startup, instead, it will be swapping 1,166,644 in ordinary shares, with each share representing a value of £1.393.

Time Out chief executive Julio Bruno, said: “Developing e-commerce and monetising our audience is an important element of our ambitious growth strategy. We acquired YPlan because its advanced technology will significantly accelerate this strategy,”

Founded in 2012, Yplan, which has raised $37.7m in funding to date, had received support from prominent tech investors such as Octopus Ventures and Ashton Kutcher.

The news of the acquisition comes after the startup announced in February that it was laying off 30% of its global workforce, resulting in 22 employees losing their jobs.

Prior to that, in 2014, the events discovery app revealed that it would be pivoting and laying off staff as it closed a $24m Series B round.

As a result of the pivot, Yplan moved away from its direct sales model to become a DIY service, allowing events organisers to manage their own listings.

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