Pinterest acquired the mobile deep-linking startup URX in May 2016.
URX specialized in connecting users with specific content inside mobile apps, rather than merely sending them to an app’s home screen or an app-store listing. That capability made it relevant to Pinterest, whose service depends on helping people discover ideas and then act on them through links, products, recipes, and other content.
The transaction was largely an acqui-hire: Pinterest brought members of the URX team into its product, engineering, and partnerships groups. Pinterest did not take on URX’s assets or technology, and URX’s advertising product was wound down. The team’s expertise was intended to improve Pinterest’s search, discovery, recommendations, and understanding of content.
A common mix-up is Quixey, another prominent deep-linking company. Branch was also a deep-linking competitor, while Bitly is best known for shortening and tracking URLs. URX is the company specifically associated with Pinterest’s May 2016 acquisition.