14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook hasn’t been known for its acquisitions, but it has started to make some moves, mostly snapping up small companies. The social network is said to have acquired Chai Labs, a web publishing company, for an estimated $10 million.
All Things D cites several sources but was unable to confirm the acquisition or the price. The price tag as well as the startup’s focus indicates that this was a talent acquisition and that Facebook is interested in the team and possibly in the technology developed by Chai Labs.
“Our technology platform enables publishers to easily customize and launch scalable, search-friendly sites in several verticals,” the company’s website reads.
“We seamlessly complement our partners’ editorial teams, and some of our most compelling implementations have occurred when editors and journalists have worked side-by-side with our platform,” it continues.
While the main focus of Chai Labs is web publishing, it is very much linked to search. It emphasizes search verticals and it enables users to search for content in a specific area.
It boasts structured data and semantic search as the pillars of its technology platform. The company’s interest in search is understandable since it was launched by ex-Google AdSense executive Gokul Rajaram.
The company lists several big figures as its advisors, which may also double as angel investors, Andreessen Horowitz’s Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman and Joe Kraus. The latter is a Google Ventures partner.
The company as a whole, would seem like a much better fit for Google, technology wise. But as Google and Facebook embark in an arms race, the social network’s interest is not that surprising.
Google has been snatching up social networking and gaming companies like there’s no tomorrow recently, as it beefs up its social team. Google is said to be working on a Facebook competitor with games a major component of it. So the fact that Facebook is interested in search products is explainable.