Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is targeting two new acquisitions as the company focus its strategy on improving its profitability in the mobile market. Kara Swisher of AllThingsD reported that the company wants to acquire app makers Xobni and Qwiki.
Xobni spelled backwards for “inbox” is a startup based in San Francisco, which received funding from various investors including First Round Capital, Khosla Ventures, BlackBerry Partners Fund, Atomico Investments, Baseline Ventures, and RRE Ventures. Y Combinator provided initial funding for Xobni in 2006.
The startup developed the Smartr Inbox and Smartr Contacts apps that allow users to easily find and search contacts from their e-mails, calls, SMS messages.
Yahoo! (YHOO)’s Plan To Acquire Xobni
According to sources familiar with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)’s plans, the tech giant offered $30 million to $40 million to acquire Xobni. However, the transaction could face hurdles because the existing offer is not enough for Xobni shareholders to regain their investments. Some sources cited that Yahoo! could increase its offer, but it seems unlikely. Other sources noted that the tech giant offered the best proposal.
Sources also cited that David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is particularly interested in pursuing the transaction. He previously worked with Xobni CEO Jeff Bonforte, who once served as vice president of social search and real-time communications at Yahoo.
Industry observers believe that Xobni is a good fit for Yahoo! mail and productivity tools because its products support both Android and iPhone operating systems.
Swisher also noted that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is interested in purchasing Qwiki, a startup based in New York that develops apps for iPhones that enables users to turn their photos, videos, music into short movies automatically.
Acquisition Of Qwiki
According to the report, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) offered $50 million to acquire Qwiki, and it is in advance talks with the startup regarding the acquisition. The startup recently launched a multi-media search app and video creation tools for storytelling. Qwiki was co-founded by its CEO Doug Imbruce and Louis Monier.
Monier previously stated that Qwiki aims to become the first real storytelling app. The company raised more than $10 million from several investors including Lerer Ventures, Lightbank, and Eduardo Severin, co-founder of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
Yahoo previously made several acquisitions such as Alike, developer of location based mobile apps for iPhones, and Summly, a mobile startup that makes apps that helps smartphone and tablet users to read and share online news and information. The company was started by Nick D’ Aloisio at the age of 15. Yahoo! paid $30 million for the company.
