LinkedIn acquires content-based startup Run Hop

LinkedIn has acquired content-based startup Run Hop, centered in San Francisco, with an objective to make its own feeds more engaging.Founded by Pete Davies and Evan Solomon in 2014, Run Hop provides customized content solutions such as articles, videos and other content which is delivered to end-users based on their preferences and usage.

For LinkedIn, the acquisition is not technology driven but talent based. “We wanted the co-founders’ talent and expertise in content,” a LinkedIn spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. “It has long been a strategic priority for us, and we believe their knowledge and capabilities can help us accelerate the execution of our content roadmap.”

Pete Davis and Evan Soloman will take up the roles of senior product manager and senior software engineer respectively in the new team.

In his new role, Mr. Davies will help LinkedIn show its user's more relevant articles, videos and other posts within their feeds. He will lead LinkedIn’s strategy on publishing and sharing content.
Before Run Hop, Davies and Solomon worked at Medium, the digital publishing platform led by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

LinkedIn has been strategically working on its content for the past few years, including through other acquisitions such as Pulse in 2013. The company also launched a publishing platform a couple years ago for members and "Influencers" to post.

LinkedIn is making measurable progress on the engagement front. In prepared remark for its first-quarter earnings report, management pointed to strong improvements in member engagement driven by the redesigned mobile app, among other initiatives. Mobile unique visiting members were up 25 percent to nearly 61 million, and member page views jumped 34 percent to 45.2 billion.