Google Acquires Talented Team Behind Bump, Flock
Mobile start-up Bump just announced that it has been acquired by Google in a blog post on Monday.
The company was founded in 2008, making a name for itself on the hot technology of bumping phones together to share contact data. The app has been downloaded over 100 million times, and continues to get updates. The same team released a fairly popular photo-sharing app called Flock last year, as well.
The acquisition was reported on AllThingsD as netting the company somewhere between $30 and $60 million.
CEO David Leib wrote the blog post today, saying, “So we couldn’t be more thrilled to join Google, a company that shares our belief that the application of computing to difficult problems can fundamentally change the way that we interact with one another and the world.”
He also writes that the apps Bump and Flock will continue to work as they have–and still get updates–“for now.”
“The Bump team has demonstrated a strong ability to quickly build and develop products that users love, and we think they’ll be a great fit at Google,” said a Google spokesperson.
According to TechCrunch, the acquisition might benefit Bump as a way to soften the blow against it by AirDrop on iOS 7, Apple’s own peer-to-peer file sharing system. Google might benefit from the team that created Flock, as well, as the photo-sharing app connects Facebook friends together for a collaborative photo album. Perhaps Google+ is a good landing spot for the team in Mountain View, though Google has not commented on the specifics of the matter.
- SourceBump Blog
- ViaAll Things D