Local Internet company Incubeta Holdings has bought South African online media company, Interface Holdings, in a deal worth R100 million, as part of its global expansion into the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment.

Incubeta Holdings owns global paid search specialist Clicks2Customers, while Interface Holdings (iFace) is an integrated online media company.

Clicks2Customers was founded in 2003 by Vinny Lingham, Charlene Lingham, Eric Edelstein and Llewelyn Claassens, to bring the searchers and the relevant advertisers together.

Clicks2Customers currently has clients and offices in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Brazil. Its clients include travel and financial services brands in southern Africa.

iFace houses digital brands such as Webmail, which ranks in the top three domestic page impressions sites, according to the Digital Media and Marketing Association, formerly the OPA. It also owns EasyInfo and jobs4u.co.za, and has a 20% share of local online advertising spend.

A new division, Clicks2Local, has been created to offer search to the SME segment, especially in emerging regions. Incubeta CEO Jonathan Gluckman says buying iFace allows the company to roll out its new SME offering, which has been in research and development for three years.