5 Startups that were acquired recently by Technology Giants

It is Monday and like every week we have compiled the top 5 of the week and this time we take you around the world’s biggest acquisitions by Technology giants. It seems like out of nowhere we hear about these small companies when they get acquired by Google or Facebook and we speculate about the riches obtained by these smaller companies in the process but rarely do we appreciate the hard work put in by these individuals or group of people in making their dream come true.

Facebook acquires The Find

Facebook’s acquisition of the shopping search engine The Find is the latest of these five acquisitions. According to The Find they are “the only way to search the entire shopping web” . It’s proprietary search engine lets you type something you’re looking to purchase, say a blue dress or a specific type of furniture etc. and it returns results from Target, Amazon, E Bay etc. If the user wants to shop locally, TheFind will return results from their geographical area. You can easily compare prices between different retailers and save time by not checking on individual sites. TheFind’s search engine would be shut down as the company merges with Facebook.

Twitter acquires Periscope

Twitter recently acquired the live video streaming app Periscope which is yet to be launched. The Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter quietly acquired the app and there is something that Twitter is not revealing at the moment but it will be out soon. They believe that Twitter paid an amount slight south of $100 million for the Periscope app and it is still in beta testing. But, as of now there is no official announcement of the acquisition from either Twitter or Periscope. The Periscope live video streaming app is similar to Meerkat, a start-up that in the recent past has garnered much interest across the Web.

Fitbit acquires FitStar

 

Fitbit has confirmed the acquisition of Fitness tracking app FitStar recently. In the recent years, Fitbit has created a reputation in hardware and software related to Fitness. FitStar has been developing apps that help the users stay motivated and Fitbit believes that their customers can benefit from FitStar acquisition. According to a source close to the matter, Fitbit is evaluating a purchase of FitStar for upwards of $25 to $40 million in a mix of cash and stock. Fitbit, founded in 2007 is one of the oldest and most popular activity tracker in the market at the moment.

LinkedIn acquires Careerify

 

LinkedIn is the number one website for professionals and it has acquired the Toronto based HR startup Careery. One of the main reasons behind this acquisitions is the automation of referrals using Big Data. Careerify recently confirmed the news that it is being acquired by LinkedIn. The purchase means that the company will be turning its attention to developing a referral service that will help companies find prospective candidates through its existing employee’s contacts and networks. It will use an employees contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to find the best suitable candidate for your company.

PayPal acquires CyActive

PayPal’s integration with ApplePay has got them thinking about security and with ApplePay they will have a an even greater things to look at. It is heard that PayPal is creating a new security hub in Israel through the acquisition of a local firm called CyActive. The Israeli company specialises in technology that can predict how malware will develop and will help PayPal prevent the attacks before they occur. Recently Sony’s data was hacked and PayPal cannot jeopardise employee or customer data.