March 27, 2016 at 05:53Why Snapchat agreed to buy Bitstrips emoji startup for more than $ 100 million
Company Snapchat has agreed to buy out the Canadian Developer Emoji avatars Bitstrips for an amount exceeding $ 100 million. This was reported by sources of Fortune and The Wall Street Journal .
Snapchat plans to pay in cash and stock. The purchase of a developer of emoji avatars will allow the messenger to, at a minimum, implement emoji input directly from the smartphone keyboard using Bitmoji Keyboard technology , Fortune writes.
Snapchat service is a photo messenger with self-destructing messages in the form of text messages, photos and videos that are stored on the server for up to ten seconds.
Bitstrips was founded in 2007. Venture funds became investors of the companyHorizons Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers . In total, they invested about $ 11 million in the startup.
In March, the social network Facebook acquired the MSQRD service , developed by the Belarusian company Masquerade Technologies Inc. The application allows users to overlay virtual masks with facial features of famous people on their photos and videos and post frames and videos on Instagram, Twitter and other social networks and instant messengers.
Facebook planned twice to try to buy a startup: the first time for $ 1 billion, and the second for $ 3 billion in November 2013. For Facebook, this deal could become the largest in the history of the company: before that, the purchase of Instagram cost her $ 1 billion. But Snapchat management was confident that the business would cost more.
Fund Fidelity recently invested in Snapchat $ 175 million, considering the service level in 2015 of $ 16 billion.
Snapchat plans to pay in cash and stock. The purchase of a developer of emoji avatars will allow the messenger to, at a minimum, implement emoji input directly from the smartphone keyboard using Bitmoji Keyboard technology , Fortune writes.
Snapchat service is a photo messenger with self-destructing messages in the form of text messages, photos and videos that are stored on the server for up to ten seconds.
Bitstrips was founded in 2007. Venture funds became investors of the companyHorizons Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers . In total, they invested about $ 11 million in the startup.
Bitstrips initially worked on a service for drawing personalized comics, but in 2014 decided to concentrate on creating hand-drawn individual avatars. Bitstrips has developed the Bitmoji application , with which users can get a personalized avatar by choosing a face shape, hair color and other characteristics.Bitmojis is popular with Facebook users. The application was recognized as one of the best - according to Google 2014. Taking photos in silly situations and making funny faces are activities that are also popular with Snapchat users, USA Today writes .
In March, the social network Facebook acquired the MSQRD service , developed by the Belarusian company Masquerade Technologies Inc. The application allows users to overlay virtual masks with facial features of famous people on their photos and videos and post frames and videos on Instagram, Twitter and other social networks and instant messengers.
Facebook planned twice to try to buy a startup: the first time for $ 1 billion, and the second for $ 3 billion in November 2013. For Facebook, this deal could become the largest in the history of the company: before that, the purchase of Instagram cost her $ 1 billion. But Snapchat management was confident that the business would cost more.
Fund Fidelity recently invested in Snapchat $ 175 million, considering the service level in 2015 of $ 16 billion.