Local email management firm acquired by hungry Boston company

Validity Inc., a Boston-based email analytics firm on a two-year acquisition spree, has agreed to buy Indianapolis-based 250ok Inc., which sells email management software and has grown over its nine years to employ more than 50 people.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. It’s expected to close next week.

250ok was founded in 2011 by Greg Kraios, a former email deliverability expert at Indianapolis-based ExactTarget.

In early 2017, it counted 10 local employees and five working remotely around the world. Later that year, it secured $2.6 million in venture capital in its first round of institutional financing.

It currently employs about 55 people, about two-thirds of which are local. All employees are expected to maintain their jobs, CFO Ryan Pfenninger told IBJ on Friday.

“For these last several years, we have been working hard to stand out in this crowded market by creating the best products for email marketers everywhere,” CEO Kraios said in a media release. “… Now as part of Validity, together we can drive innovation and excellence for everyone in the email ecosystem.”

Both Kraios and Pfenninger have agreed to stay on with Validity and help grow its email division, Pfenninger told IBJ.

250ok will be the fifth major acquisition in the last two years for Validity. The prior deals included CRMfusion, BriteVerify and Return Path—all in the email or customer relations management space.

250ok’s software helps ensure emails get to inboxes—instead of spam folders—and analyzes engagement. Among other things, it helps corporate marketing departments track data on email open rates, time spent reading, link clicks and forwards.

The name 250ok comes from “250 OK,” a signal that a receiving mail server sends a sending mail server when a command is accepted.

The firm’s customer base includes Marketo, CDW, National Geographic, Crutchfield, Furniture Row, and PETA.

With the acquisition of 250ok, Validity will have more than 500 employees, according to Chief Marketing Officer Charlie Ungashick. It will add Indianapolis to its roster of cities with company offices, with includes Denver, London, Paris, Sao Paolo, and Sydney, as well as Tampa, Florida.