Santa Monica-based social media giant Snap Inc. has acquired 3D map developer Pixel8Earth for $7.6 million.
Snap initially revealed that it had made an acquisition during its first-quarter earnings report on April 22, but did not confirm the purchase of Boulder, Colo.-based Pixel8Earth until April 26.
“In the first quarter of 2021, we completed an acquisition to enhance our existing platform, technology and workforce,” Snap said of the acquisition in its earnings report.
Pixel8Earth’s four employees will join Snap. The team will develop Snap’s location-based augmented reality experiences, according to TechCrunch.
Founded in 2019, Pixel8Earth develops 3D mapping technology using crowdsourced data.
“We are beyond excited to be part of Snap’s Map and AR teams helping them overlay computing on the world,” Pixel8Earth said in an April 26 statement on the company's Medium account. “Ambitious goals require resources and lots of smart people. We couldn’t be happier joining such a fabulous team of old and new friends.”
Launched in 2017, Snap Maps allows users to see the locations of other Snapchat users. The tool also allows users to see location-based events, local posts and breaking news. Snap’s mapping feature reaches more than 250 million people every month, the company said in its February investors day presentation.
This marks the fourth acquisition Snap has announced in 2021. In January, the company announced its deal for New York-based location data startup Street Cred, as well as its purchase of London-based artificial intelligence startup Ariel AI, for undisclosed sums. In March, the company acquired Berlin-based Fit Analytics, a fitting technology company, for $124.4 million as it looks to branch into ecommerce.
