Mobile browser company pays $26m and rising for UK and US firms.
Opera is paying $18 million for Mobile Theory and $8 million for 4th Screen, but this could rise to $32 million and $6.5 million depending on performance.
Interesting move for the firm, and a clear indication that it believes its ability to get its browser on third party handsets is a trojan horse through which to monetise via apps and advertising.
In the past, the Norwegian company has worked with companies such as Vodafone and Mediatek to get its browser pre-installed, and has seen its product enthusiastically adopted by Android and iOS users as a downloaded app.
Last year it bought the app store specialist Handster to establish its own app hub, and did a deal with Bango on billing.
This move into the ad space comes as Opera unveiled quarterly revenues up by 31 per cent to 253.1 million Norwegian Kronor ($44 million).
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The M&A further heats up an ad space currently dominated by a consolidating number of global players including Millennial, InMobi, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Adfonic, Buzz City and a number of strong regional firms.
Then there's Facebook.
It should be pointed out that unlike many of the big names mentioned above, Mobile Theory and 4th Screen operate premium networks that serve high profile publishers, rather than blind networks that pair advertisers with a large base of signed up publishers using a bidding system.
US-based Mobile Theory has clients including Starbucks and Amazon, while London-based 4th Screen serves European mobile markets with clients including Shazam and O2.
Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software, said: "This is yet another important step in Opera’s quest to create even more economic value in the mobile ecosystem.
"Two years ago, we announced the acquisition of AdMarvel – which has grown to become the global leader as a supply-side platform (publisher platform) for mobile advertising. Last year, Opera helped generate well over $200 million in revenue for our publishers globally."
Opera recently claimed to have over 160m users with at least one million monthly active users in 22 countries.
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