by Elad Benari
Google announced on Tuesday that it has acquired Quiksee, an Israeli-based company which develops interactive video mapping technologies based on user-filmed videos.
Founded in 2007 by CEO Gadi Royz, VP R&D Rony Amira, CTO Assaf Harel, and Pavel Yosifovich, Quiksee’s software allows Internet users to turn a simple video clip into an interactive video clip. Its users can photograph any location where they are with a digital camera or mobile device, and then upload the file to Google Maps. The clip thus becomes interactive, allowing people to wander through and get a seemingly real visit experience, without physically being there.
A report in TheMarker financial newspaper on Monday estimated that the deal was worth $10 million. A spokeswoman for Google told Reuters on Tuesday that it was a “small deal” and did not provide exact figures.
In an announcement on its website, Quiksee said: “We are delighted to announce that Quiksee has been acquired by Google! We’ve learned a lot from our previous work at Quiksee, and we look forward to bringing our experience, creativity and insight to Google. Both Google and Quiksee share the same innovative vision…we look forward to the opportunity to contribute and do great things together in the future.”
According to TheMarker, Google sees Quiksee’s technology as “the missing link” in its Street View service which allows users to view photographs of streets around the world.
Quiksee is Google’s second acquisition in Israel in six months. In April, it acquired web gadgets provider LabPixies for an estimated $25 million. LabPixies specializes in personalized websites and mobile gadgets such as calendars, checklists, games, and news and weather feeds.
Google Israel’s development center managing director Yossi Matias, said in a statement that Google was committed to continue investing in Israel “both by expanding and deepening our activity as well as by continuing to strengthen our collaboration with companies and start-ups in Israel.”
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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, 15.09.2010