Facebook has acquired Israeli startup Snaptu, a creator of simple mobile applications for feature phones, for an estimated $70 million.
Snaptu’s technology is designed to bring web service such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to almost any phone through a series of applications it has designed. The company’s Java-based apps replicate many of the features of smartphone apps but make them accessible to the millions of people that don’t own a smartphone.
In fact, Facebook tapped Snaptu earlier this year to create its feature phone app, which provides an almost smartphone-like experience that includes contact syncing and a homescreen that will be familiar to users of the social network’s iPhone and Android applications. One of the reasons Facebook chose Snaptu is because its technology works on more than 2,500 different mobile devices.
“We soon decided that working as part of the Facebook team offered the best opportunity to keep accelerating the pace of our product development,” Snaptu said in blog post. “And joining Facebook means we can make an even bigger impact on the world.”
The deal, which will close in the next few weeks, was first reported in several Israeli publications. Snaptu was founded in 2007 as Mobilca and has raised funding from Sequioa Capital and Carmel Ventures.
