Untappd Merger With Next Glass

Here's a bubbly merger: beer sharing app Untappd is teaming up with Next Glass, a wine and beer identification and recommendation app.

Founded more than five years ago, Untappd lets beer lovers share the beers they are drinking with others, also letting them include photos, location, ratings and descriptions of the beers. It has grown to nearly 3 million users.

Next Glass, which launched in November 2014, lets you scan possible wine and beer purchases with your portable device and then gives you a rating and other information about what's in the bottle. When you drink a bottle, you can also issue your own ratings. The app will make recommendations for what you should try next.

Untappd co-founders Tim Mather and Greg Avola have been working on the app in addition to their regular jobs and haven't found a way to transform it into their full-time business, they said Friday in a post on the Untappd blog.

By merging the operations of Untappd and Next Glass, they say they will be able to "transition into full time roles within Untappd as well as hire on more staff to speed up our feature development and make the platform even better for the community," the co-founders say in the blog post.

"After many discussions and exploring many different directions, we are excited to announce a strategic merger between Untappd and Next Glass, a fellow alcohol based start up. It was evident very early on in our discussions that we shared similar goals and ideals for our respective apps and together we could achieve great things," they wrote. "Unlike other mergers happening in the beer world recently, this merger brings together two like-minded start ups set on disrupting the beer industry for the better."

Both apps will continue to operate as they are, but will gain from working under the same umbrella. "This means you will get new updates, cool features, and even more badges, faster," they say. "There will be no rebranding, name changing, or abrupt pivots. We will continue just as we have, building a world class social community for beer drinkers - only at a much quicker pace."

Source: USA Today & Untappd Blog

A toast to our new partnership! @NextGlass and @Untappd are joining forces, and we’re stoked! https://t.co/TmHXYxjtPv

— Next Glass (@nextglass) January 15, 2016

We’re taking @untappd to the next level with @nextglass! https://t.co/d60MVj8rdi

— Untappd (@untappd) January 15, 2016