Private equity descends on Chartbeat – TechCrunch

Chartbeat, a website that tells publishers about their readers, is getting the private equity treatment.

Launched out of Betaworks in 2009, the service offered real-time analytics back when Google Analytics made you wait 24 hours to see who was clicking around your site. Eons later, private equity firm Cuadrilla Capital has swooped in to buy it, Chartbeat chief executive John Saroff said on Twitter today. The CEO added that Chartbeat’s staff, including leadership, will stick around following the deal.

Axios, which broke the news, reports the deal will let Chartbeat “build a suite of products that help media companies grow their businesses, in addition to helping shape their editorial strategies.” Ah, yes, private equity — the institution known for helping media companies grow.

Betaworks is headquartered in New York, and known for its early investments in Twitter and Tumblr, and for incubating services like Giphy and Bit.ly.

Since launching last year, Santa Barbara-based Cuadrilla has snapped up two other data firms: Agilence and InfoDesk.