Payment technology provider Square has entered talks to acqui-hire the team of Yik Yak, the US-based anonymous microblogging platform backed by social media company Renren, The Verge has reported.
Founded in 2013, Yik Yak has developed an anonymised online message board that initially experienced rapid growth on university campuses. However, breaks in term times served as a lag on its progress and a decision to transition to fixed user names led to existing users leaving.
Yik Yak laid off some 60% of its team at the end of 2016 and attempted to partially pivot in February by introducing a group messaging platform called Hive targeted, again, at the higher education market.
The company has raised $73.5m in funding, including $62m in a November 2014 series B round led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and backed by undisclosed earlier investors that reportedly valued it at up to $400m. The purchase price is likely to be a small fraction of that figure.
Yik Yak had previously secured $10m in a 2014 series A round closed four months earlier with backing from Renren, Azure Capital Partners, DCM and various angel investors, after Vaizra Investments and Atlanta Ventures had provided seed capital.
The proposed acquisition would involve Yik Yak’s team but not its technology, sources told The Verge, though company co-founders Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington would not be part of any such deal. Sequoia Capital is brokering talks with prospective buyers, according to Fortune.