Millennial Media, likely the largest remaining independent mobile ad network out there, is bulking up towards its plans for an initial public offering. The company made several moves as a part of this plan, the most recent being the acquisition of Condaptive, a startup that provides location-based mobile marketing solutions. The company analyzes user data to allow developers build location-and context-aware applications.

Millennial says that audience formation within mobile is an area of key value for both developers and advertisers. Condaptive’s technology will help the company’s advertisers and developers deliver more relevant mobile experiences for consumers.”

Location-based marketing is a very effective targeting method, and is one marketers are using more and more. What Condaptive brings into the picture is data analytics, a rising area of interest for businesses both in and out of the mobile realm. This makes the whole process even more effective and accurate, which means that its merger with Millennial will probably provide a significant boost to the ad network’s offerings portfolio.

Condaptive’s entire staff will join the lines of Millennial, and chief executive and founder Hemang Gadhia, will assume the position of Senior Vice President, Audience Intelligence for the mobile ad network.

This acquisition comes as sources report the company’s IPO will launch later this year or in early 2012, as well as a series of steps–including a plan to double Millennial’s staff–we’ve witnessed lately.  Nevertheless, this all comes alongside rumors software giant Microsoft may be acquiring Millennial.

A very recent report by Jake Lynch from The Street and Kevin Kellehar names five companies likely to make some big acquisitions this year. These include Cisco, HP, IBM and Oracle as well as Microsoft, which Lynch and Kellehar believe may buy Millennial Media. This suspicion is supported by rumors that there is already a basic yet not finalized agreement between the two companies, and a price tag estimated at $500 million.