Google Acquires Bump, Gives It “Second Life”

Bump has been through so many things but in the end it had to sell itself to Google to survive. The said app had raised $20 million and had...


Bump has been through so many things but in the end it had to sell itself to Google to survive.

The said app had raised $20 million and had made it to the list of the most downloaded applications but through the years, it had failed to find real revenue.

A recent update on Bump Technologies – Google has acquired it adding it to its roost that belonged to Googleplex. And eventually, it might just find the sunny future it has been looking for.

Bump’s Statements

“We strive to create experiences that feel like magic, enabled behind the scene with innovations in math, data processing, and algorithms. So we couldn’t be more thrilled to join Google,” wrote Bump technologies cofounder and CEO David Lieb pertaining to his technology’s buyout. Based on his statement, it seems Lieb, fellow Bump founder Andy Huibers as well as the app’s whole 25-person team will be joining Google along with the merger.

Lieb further noted that the said app, including Flock, its joint photo-sharing app, “will continue to work as they always have for now; stay tuned for future updates.” However, the blog released by Lieb did not mention anything about the Bump Pay app, the company’s application for payments and services which startup was built over PayPal and allows users to make mobile payments through fist knocking.

Remembering Bump’s Beginnings

Bump rose to fame by being an early App Store hit. Through the app, contact information, pictures, audio and video as well as other pertaining files could be shared instantly and easily by just bumping fists together.

March this year saw 1 billion photos shared and 125 million downloads through the same app – a great rise from the previous year’s 100 million.

Nevertheless, with time came other means of file sharing and since Bump remained free, it was not earning enough revenue to pay and maintain the team responsible for the company’s mobile engineering team. This very factor may have burned through the $16.5 million the Bump startup raised.

Additionally, Apple had further impeded Bumps’ move into the app scene as the company announced its iOS 7, together with AirDrop, a new app that makes sharing tasks less daunting.

But before it could throw in the towel in a sure sign of defeat, it gets a new lease on life through the acquisition made by Google.

Wrong or Right Move?

Google buying Bump have caused mixed emotions from among tech evangelists. They say that Google buying Bump could be a huge mistake on the former’s side.

However, it is believed that Google bought the said app to get the photo sharing Flock, knowing that it could rival Facebook’s photo sharing features as well as Dropbox’s photo saving services. Tech rumors have it that the company is going to use the said app to enhance Google+.

The combined features of Bump and Flock together with Google’s built-in audience could advance the merger without worrying about the revenues gained.