Yahoo’s spree of buying startups continues as the company announced today that it bought the New York-based startup, Qwiki – a video app that combines pictures, music and video to create shareable stories.
Although Qwiki operated out of San Francisco a few years ago but the company relocated to New York and will move into Yahoo’s New York headquarters. Both companies published announcements regarding the acquisition.
Here’s what Yahoo had to say about Qwiki:
“We’re excited to announce that Yahoo! acquired Qwiki – a company that uses awesome technology to bring together pictures, music and video to capture the art of storytelling.
Have you ever listened to an old song and all of a sudden a favorite vacation, concert, or summer memory pops into your mind? The Qwiki app automatically turns pictures and videos that you already have on your iPhone into quick, beautiful movies to share, including transitions and a soundtrack.”
Although Qwiki’s service is more feature rich than Instagram or Vine, the acquisition does give Yahoo a new video creation and distribution platform to help it grow a competing community.
All Things D reported two weeks ago that Yahoo was in talks to buy Qwiki for $50 million and claims the final price tag was in that range. Yahoo will continue to support the Qwiki app and said that more announcements are in the pipeline.
From Qwiki’s Tumblr post:
It has been extremely rewarding having our products downloaded by millions, and watching the Qwiki community evolve and grow – especially via our most recent launch, Qwiki for iPhone. Seeing the stories that you share through the app inspires us every day.
Thank you for being a part of our story – one which is far from over. The Qwiki app will live on as a standalone entity inside Yahoo!, where we will grow our thriving community and where our team will continue to work to help you share life’s best experiences.
We are proud of the work we’ve done, and humbled by unwavering support from the NY tech community. New York is such a big part of who we are, and what we will become.
Source: Yahoo!
