When it comes to news items that we love at TechCrunch, IPOs rank pretty darn high.
Another great newsy bit that comes along less frequently than we’d like is a startup buying another startup.
These deals are often very interesting as they either bring a gob of talent, or technology to an already growing company, potentially accelerating it.
So it was with joy that the Equity Podcast crew dug into Automattic buying Beeper for $125 million.
But certainly we are an ocean or two away from the heady days we saw back in 2021.
WordPress.com owner Automattic is acquiring Beeper, the company behind the iMessage-on-Android solution that was referenced by the Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
One of the reasons why there are no other people building this type of app is it costs a surprisingly large amount of money to build a damn good chat app,” Migicovsky noted.
As for Beeper’s products, the company has now briefed the DOJ on what happened when Apple blocked its newer app, Beeper Mini, which aimed to bring iMessage to Android.
Beeper on Android launches to allThe company is instead releasing an updated version of its core app, Beeper, on Android.
In this rewritten version of Beeper, the company is starting to roll out fully end-to-end encrypted messages across Signal.
But things are now starting to shift again back to the open web, Mullenweg believes.
With Texts.com, he saw an opportunity to invest in another area where consumers are pushing for more openness: messaging.
As for Texts.com, Mullenweg saw the acquisition as a way to move into a third major market beyond publishing and commerce.
“I thought that we had a lot of ideas to build, and Automattic seemed like the right place,” Bagaria added.
Competitor Beeper recently made its iMessage-on-Android app Beeper Mini free as it does battle with Apple, which has been working to shut down its service.
You may recall that Automattic bought all-in-one messaging app Texts.com for $50 million back in October.
Well, we had questions, not just about the deal, but also the state of the written word online.
So, we brought on Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress, along with Kishan Bagaria, the founder of Texts.com., to talk about the transaction and what it means.
A few notes before you hit play: First, Automattic is more acquisitive than you’d expect.
Alright, sit back, hit play, and have some fun with us!
