Yelp, which made a name for itself with its restaurant recommendation service, recently acquired a car service website.
In the company’s quarterly earnings report today, Yelp said it has agreed to acquire auto repair quote site RepairPal for $80 million in cash.
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of this year, subject to customary closing conditions.
“We believe RepairPal will accelerate our broader service efforts by expanding our offerings in the multibillion-dollar U.S. automotive service advertising space,” Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in a statement.
It may not seem like an obvious marriage, but RepairPal fits into Yelp’s ambitions to become a major home services funnel.
In recent years, Yelp has added features beyond its restaurant and business search tools, such as an AI-powered feature that suggests plumbers, repairmen and other home service providers to users who may potentially need them. Yelp also introduced the Yelp Guaranteed program, which provides up to $2,500 in coverage for eligible projects in case something goes wrong.
Yelp makes money through advertising and commissions it receives from service providers for specific leads. In the company’s most recent fiscal quarter, advertising revenue from its services business rose 11% year-over-year to $228 million, with sales up about 15% in the home services segment alone.
The acquisition is a good exit for San Francisco-based RepairPal, which has raised $21.3 million in funding from Cars.com, Tugboat Ventures and others in the 17 years since the company was founded. In a press release, Yelp did not reveal whether founders Aaron Tavistock, David Esser and David Sturtz would join the Yelp company.
