J.L. Halsey Buys EmailLabs

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Holding company J.L. Halsey, which bought Lyris in May, has snatched up a second major stake in the email space with the acquisition of Uptilt Inc., which does business as EmailLabs.

The all-cash deal was for $19.5 million, with a future payment of up to $2.5 million linked to performance. After the deal closes, EmailLabs chairman and CEO David Sousa will resign, as will CTO Adrian Liang. Both will continue on as advisors to the company.

The email marketing space has undergone considerable consolidation this summer. In addition to J.L. Halsey's buyout of Lyris, Alliance Data Systems' Epsilon signed a deal to acquire Bigfoot Interactive. Halsey said it would seek further acquisition opportunities in the email marketing space.

Ninety-seven percent of EmailLabs' revenues comes from hosted email marketing services. Revenue last year was $5.7 million, which the company has already topped in the first three quarters of 2005.