Tickles was launched in May 2010 and Archant acquired 50% of the business in December that year. The Tickles business now operates in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Over the past 16 months, Archant has helped boost Tickles membership from 20,000 to 116,000 and Tickles customers have now saved almost £1.8m through its daily deals, says Archant.
Archant chief executive, Adrian Jeakings, said: “We are delighted to have now taken full ownership of Tickles and 40Winks. We have plans to grow the business further and look forward to future developments. I would like to thank the team at Pearcey Venture Partners for their valuable input and support and we wish them well in their other ventures.
Elly Montgomery, from Pearcey Venture Partners, said: “It’s been fantastic developing Tickles and we wish everyone at Archant continued success in growing the platform further.”
Adrian said: “Archant's long-standing presence in the local communities we serve means that we are ideally positioned to negotiate the best deals with local businesses and then give them maximum exposure to attract local customers through our newspapers, magazines, websites, mobile sites and apps.
“The completion of this purchase improves our offering to customers and demonstrates Archant’s drive to find the most innovative and cost-effective ways for our local advertisers to reach their target audience.”
In addition to its website, the Tickles product portfolio also contains www.40winks.co.uk, a variety of social media tools, an iPhone app and a blog, with other developments in the pipeline.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
