• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 22, 2014

LinkedIn announced Tuesday that it will acquire Bizo, which focused on business audience segments and marketing automation. The tools, mostly used by business-to-business marketers, enable the measurement of display and social online advertising and audience segments.

The companies value the transaction at approximately $175 million, subject to adjustment, in a combination of approximately 10 percent stock and approximately 90 percent cash.

The acquisition should close during the third quarter of 2014.

Following the close of the acquisition, many of Bizo's executive team members will join LinkedIn. "The Bizo team has been part of our LinkedIn API Partner Program for some time now," David Thacker, vice president of products at LinkedIn, wrote on the company's blog. "Through these interactions, we've gotten to know the team and their capabilities well, which surfaced the possibilities of a deeper relationship between the two of us."

Bizo recently shared what it calls "record setting revenue" after launching its marketing automation platform in late October 2013. By February, it had more than 25 companies adopt the new offering including Avis, Rockwell Automation and Concur. Avis saw near immediate return on investment, about 300% per Bizo.

In fact, Bizo revenue in 2013 rose about 75%, compared with the prior year. The company said it built one of the strongest channels through agencies, which accounted for $9 million in annual revenue.