Snap just acquired Placed, a company that tracks whether online ads actually lead to offline purchases

Snap has acquired Placed, a Seattle-based ad tech company that specializes in measuring offline sales attribution — that is, detecting whether online ads actually lead to store visits and offline purchases.

As part of the deal, more than 100 employees from Placed are joining Snap and will continue to work out of their existing offices in Seattle, New York and Los Angeles. Placed CEO David Shim will continue to lead the team and will report directly to Snap’s chief strategy officer, Imran Khan.

Placed announced the news Monday in a blog post, and a Snap spokesperson confirmed the deal but declined to share terms. Bloomberg reports that the deal was for “about $125 million.”

Snap is trying to tackle a formidable challenge with this deal: Proving that its online ads actually drive offline sales. Attributing an offline purchase to any one online ad is tricky, especially given how many devices people use and that they may not always buy something immediately after they see an ad online.

The obvious hope for a company like Snap is that advertisers will spend more if they can see that their Snap ads lead to real sales. And Snap isn’t the only company trying to figure this out. Other services that generate billions in ad revenue, including Facebook and Twitter, are doing the same.

For now, Placed will operate independently, which means it will continue to work with advertisers that are running ad campaigns on other platforms, like Facebook. A Snap spokesperson says that Placed will not share its customer data with Snap.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Contributions are a key part of the future of Vox

Readers rely on Vox for clear, nuanced coverage that not only illuminates the issues, but poses solutions, too. And we rely on help from our readers: Advertising and grants cover the majority of our costs, but we count on contributions to help us close the gaps in our budget. In fact, we’re looking to reach 95,000 individual contributions before the end of the year. Will you make the next contribution right now? Our average gift is just $20 — and it goes a long way in helping us keep our work free. Vox is here to help everyone understand what’s shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. Join that mission by making a contribution today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via