Social media network Twitter has revealed it paid a combined $86.6m for US-based Niche, which connects social media celebrities with brands, and live streaming app Periscope, Re/code reported on Monday.
Twitter acquired Niche in February this year, after the startup had raised $2.5m in series A funding from talent agency William Morris Endeavor, SoftTech. Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Advancit Capital, Box Group and various angel investors in May 2014, It also secured $550,000 from angel investors in 2013.
Twitter disclosed the amount in its quarterly earnings report, which did not detail how much money the company spent on the individual deals. The total payment amount consisted of $57.7m in common stock and $28.9m in cash.
The $86.6m figure included $5.1m in funding to develop the startups’ respective technologies. An additional $38.2m in stock payments and $3m of assumed stock option grants could be added on, depending on how many acquired employees stay with each company over the next four years.
Despite connecting brands with celebrities on platforms such as Twitter-owned video service Vine, Niche billed itself as a technology provider and not a talent agency.
Re/code estimated at the time of the acquisition that Niche was worth approximately $30m, although this did not include earn-outs and employment contracts, which may have pushed the deal to $60m.
US-based Periscope was acquired by Twitter in March, before the startup has revealed any equity funding. Periscope launched at the end of March and signed up more than a million users in its first 10 days.