Dive Brief:

• Image-recognition startup Toronto-based Slyce Inc. has acquired couponing company SnipSnap for $6.5 million in cash, common shares, and conditional shares, the companies announced.

• SnipSnap essentially gives coupons the Slyce treatment, transforming a photo of a coupon into a usable, mobile-based one. Necessary elements like the barcode, expiration date, and cashier code are digitized and can be presented at POS systems. The app also reminds users of expiration dates and pings them when they are near a store they have a coupon for.

• SnipSnap, founded in 2012, will remain headquartered in Philadelphia and founder Ted Mann will continue to lead the unit.

Dive Insight:

Slyce is on a roll to become a major venue through which mobile-based images become tools for e-commerce. Slyce began as an image-recognition feature that allows customers to scan items and buy them on their mobile phone. Its earlier acquisition of Pounce added inventory, price, and checkout capabilities, and SnipSnap adds mobile-based couponing.

"SnipSnap began with a very simple concept: what if saving a coupon to your phone was as simple as snapping a photo of it?" says Mann. "Mobile phones are becoming remote controls for our lives, and Slyce is at the forefront of how we can apply image-recognition and visual search to not just coupons, but all forms of mobile commerce."