German-based business social network Xing’s OpenBC parent has acquired Spanish counterpart Neurona from Grupo Intercom Factory for an undisclosed sum as it ramps up for a challenge to LinkedIn. The acquisition, which gives it around 830,000 members, gives Xing considerable strength in Spain and Latin America following its acquisition in March of Spain’s number-two business social net eConozco, which had around 150,000 members - that certainly makes it the leader in the Spanish market, CEO Lars Hinrichs wrote on the company blog. The new buy will be integrated into Xing over the next 12 months and, though Neurona is free to users, Xing aims to get users to migrate to premium services. Release. Earlier this month, Xing signed a partnership with people search platform ZoomInfo that gives it access to some 36 million more people and company records.

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