Twitter buys Stories Template Maker Chroma Labs

Twitter has acquired California-based Chroma Labs that develops tools for short-form Video and photo creation and was founded by seven Facebook and Instagram workers in 2018.

The Chroma Stories app lets users fill in stylish layout templates and frames for posting collages and more to Instagram Stories, Snapchat and more. According to Sensor Tower, nearly 615,000 people have installed the Chroma Stories app. During the past year, Chroma Labs has enabled creators and businesses around the world to create millions of stories with the Chroma Stories app.

Chroma Labs' co-founders include Instagram 'Boomerang' inventor John Barnett, CTO Alex Li, who was an engineering manager on Facebook Photos and Instagram Stories, and Joshua Harris who was a product design manager on Facebook's augmented reality team. With Chroma Stories, users can choose between retro filters, holiday-themed frames and collage templates.

Verizon to sell Tumblr to WordPress parent firm

Verizon has agreed to sell its blogging platform Tumblr to the parent company of online publishing tool WordPress. Tumblr will act as a complementary site to WordPress after the acquisition.

Automattic Inc, the parent company of WordPress, will buy Tumblr and take on its 200 staff members for an undisclosed amount. Verizon, the current owner of Tumblr, had been searching a buyer for the social media platform since earlier this year.

Tumblr was once a hugely influential force in the blogging and social media sphere, but it becomes less so under Yahoo and then Verizon’s ownership. Meanwhile, platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube moved to fill the void and become much larger cultural forces as a result. Still, Tumblr does have a very active and dedicated community.

Verizon is in the process of revamping its media group, which struggled to meet revenue targets in recent years. The business, home to legacy Yahoo and AOL web properties such as HuffPost, TechCrunch, feminist media brand Makers and celebrity-interview site Build, is increasingly focused on subscription and original content.

Snapchat to acquire Cimagine

Messaging app Snapchat is buying Israeli augmented reality start-up Cimagine media for an estimated $30-40 Million, making Snapchat first acquisition in Israel. Cimagine developed true marker less augmented reality technology that allows users to virtually place furniture and appliances they wish to purchase in the space of their home, on their mobile devices, at the click of a button.

Cimagine will become Snapchat research and development centre in Israel and is expected to rapidly expand its workforce from its current 20 employees. The company’s highly skilled team is probably the main reason for the acquisition, rather than its technology. The company was founded in 2012 and has raised a few million dollars. Venice, California based Snapchat is expected to go public as early as March with a valuation of as much as $25 Billion.

Cimagine specializes in computer vision, real-time image processing, mobile development, international marketing, and more. All of these are obviously compelling for Snap, whose app Snapchat is heavily reliant on augmented reality and the like. But what Cimagine brings to the table is a focus on commerce and as Snap looks towards going public perhaps some time next year, it’s quite possible that doing facilitating shopping through Snapchat might open up additional revenue opportunities.

Cimagine already has partnerships with Shop Direct, John Lewis, and Coca-Cola and wants to help retailers tap into the potential of augmented reality. So Snap may want to eventually strike partnerships with big box retailers and department stores to accelerate engagement and time spent on site. Merchants and store owners may want additional advertising opportunities so the potential of what Cimagine’s technology and team could bring to bear may be enticing.

Delivery Hero acquires Foodpanda

Berlin based online Food takeaway service Delivery Hero, one of Europe’s biggest start-ups will acquire competitor Foodpanda, a sign further consolidation to fend of new competition in Europe’s sought after food delivery business. The acquisition brings together two top food delivery startups based in Germany.

After this acquisition, the combined group is expected to process over 20 Million orders per month across 47 countries. Delivery Hero currently serves across 33 countries and Foodpanda in 22 countries. With this deal, Rocket Internet stake in Delivery Hero will grow up to 37.7%. The acquisition of Foodpanda will enable Delivery Hero to consolidate its market leadership in the Middle East and add 20 new countries in Eastern Europe, MENA and Asia.

Delivery Hero, which was most recently valued at $3.1 Billion and competes directly with publicly listed Just Eat, along with newer premium entrants such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats & Amazon. Delivery Hero and Foodpanda are both backed by German ecommerce firm Rocket Internet, which has invested 800 million euros in Delivery Hero last year and put 300 million euros into Foodpanda which focuses on deliveries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

Foodpanda has built a fantastic position and service offering some of the largest food delivery markets globally. In November end, the company had announced the participation of Sunny Leone in their digital marketing campaign. The company had said that the campaign is going to target consumers through different Social Media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram etc. 

Facebook buys FacioMetrics

Facebook has bought facial recognition start-up FacioMetrics, potentially using the technology for photo or video effects to better challenge rival Snapchat. How people share and communicate is changing and things like masks and other effects allow people to express themselves in fun and creative ways.

Silicon Valley-based Facebook did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy FacioMetrics, which was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. FacioMetrics was founded in 2015 and specializes in using artificial intelligence to give facial image analysis capabilities to applications that run on smartphones.

The technology has potential in a host of applications, including those focused on animation, measuring audience reactions, and virtual or augmented realities. Using FacioMetrics to let users of Facebook, or subsidiaries such as Instagram, have fun with photos or video could be a counter-move to those kinds of features offered in “filters” at vanishing message service Snapchat.

Parent company Snap estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day. Since trying unsuccessfully to buy Southern California-based Snapchat several years ago, Facebook has turned to cloning popular features.