What does a+b+c equal? It equals Google in two years.
Google is continuing on their binge of buying smaller, transparent startups for their technology and resources. Their latest acquisition being Greenborder Technologies, a venture backed company that sells browser virtualization security software.
There are basically two things that amaze me about all of these acquisitions. One being the need to buy innovation rather than create it. It is true that purchasing a proven product rather than creating it makes better sense. Why try and invent the wheel twice. On the other hand, it has to be cheaper to have the inhouse developers build similar technology! The only x factor I can see is time.
Time to market or time to product launch can be a serious burden. In some respects time can be applied to higher valuations. Perhaps if Google waits three months to acquire a target, their valuation will double. Time was clearly an issue with the YouTube acquisition. If it is true that Google wanted to head Legal battles over video, it was only a matter of time before they would be sued.
The second point is niche targets. They are buying seemingly unrelated startups which will no doubt be rolled up into their own products. So if you are looking for a time to start a tech related business, I think you may have found it.
Personally, I think Google’s strategic partnership with Firefox might have something to do with it. Perhaps Firefox needed to have certain security protocols to get their offline application addon’s to work in Firefox 3.0. Or maybe as TechCrunch said, it is to further develop the Doc’s and Spreadsheets app.
Either way, I am amazed buy the rapid acquisition of all of these companies. It will be interesting to see where these purchases are heading.
Via DABCC and TechCrunch