US-based search engine Google has reportedly hired the team of one of its corporate venturing unit’s portfolio companies, reportedly paying something between under $15m and $30m, to hire some of the team of Milk, set up by entrepreneur Kevin Rose.
Google had bought the company following a bidding war with social media company Facebook, news provider TechCrunch said on Friday.
Milk said on its website on Wednesday it had shut down its mobile application Oink, which was launched in November.
Corporate venturing unit Google Ventures invested $200,000 in Milk in November, according to TechCrunch
Milk’s founder Kevin Rose was co-founder of social news website Digg. Oink combined elements of photo sharing app Instagram, reviews site Yelp and location tagging app Foursquare, allowing users to photograph, tag and rate anything around them.
Milk previously raised $1.5m in seed funding, in April 2011, from venture capital firms First Round Capital, True Ventures and SV Angel, as well as a host of angel investors.