Snap Picks Up Pixel8earth to Grow Its Map Feature
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
Snap Inc. has acquired Pixel8earth as it pushes to grow and monetize the Map feature on its flagship app, Snapchat.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Pixel8earth uses crowdsourced data to develop 3D maps.
The acquisition was initially disclosed with few details in Snap's first-quarter filing to the SEC, below the more detailed disclosure of its $124.4 million acquisition of Fit Analytics. Snap said it paid $7.6 million for an unnamed company.
On Monday Snap confirmed that the unnamed company was Pixel8earth.
Snap executives have called the Snap Map a "multibillion-dollar opportunity," frequently noting that over 250 million users engage with the feature every month. The company has continuously pointed to ongoing efforts to add "utility" to the feature, particularly regarding the value it can bring to small businesses searching for local customers.
In its SEC filing, Snap said the acquisition was meant "to enhance our existing platform, technology, and workforce." Based on Pixel8earth's former co-founders' LinkedIn profiles, it appears they have been fully absorbed by Snap. Former CEO Sean Gorman lists his current role as a Boulder, CO-based "Software Engineering Manager" at Snap, while his former co-founder and CTO Pramukta Kumar lists his role as an Austin-based "Computer Vision Engineer" at Snap.
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Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
