US-based semiconductor company Qualcomm and Blackberry Partners Fund-backed facial recognition startup Viewdle has been acquired by Google in a deal that news provider Forbes is calling “the biggest deal in Ukrainian internet history”.
Ukraine-based Viewdle was previously in talks with Motorola last year shortly before Google acquired it. The deal was made through Google’s Motorola Mobility unit, which the internet giant acquired earlier in the year for $12.5bn.
Details of the final purchase price are not yet known, but multiple news sources are estimating somewhere between $30m to $45m.
The company has previously held three venture rounds, but only disclosed the amount raised for its series B in 2010. During that round, Viewdle raised $10m from Best Buy Capital, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based retailer, Research in Motion-backed Blackberry Partners Fund, telecommunications firm Qualcomm, and Anthem Venture Partners.
Anthem previously was the sole participant in a series A round for an undisclosed sum in early 2009, while merchant bank KCP Capital led a solo round in 2008, also for an undisclosed amount.