Israeli online family trace start-up MyHeritage Ltd. today announced the acquisition of UK family social network Kindo Ltd. The company did not disclose the size of the deal, but it reportedly totaled a few million dollars. The acquisition comes two weeks after MyHeritage raised $15 million.
MyHeritage says that the acquisition of Kindo will help MyHeritage achieve its vision of becoming the Facebook for families.
London-based Kindo was founded in 2007. Its web-based family networking platform is available in 17 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Hindi. The acquisition should help MyHeritage consolidate its position in European markets and better compete against companies offering similar services, such as Geni.
MyHeritage has raised $24 million to date. The company's website enables users to create family albums. The company has 25 million subscribers. Its service is currently available in 25 languages with more to follow.
MyHeritage CEO Gilad Japhet said, "Adding the Kindo team to MyHeritage puts the company in an even stronger position to realize its vision of connecting families around the world. The synergy of our innovative, sophisticated technology and Kindo's social networking and marketing expertise will further solidify our position as industry leader. Kindo successfully created a friendly service with an excellent reputation and great base of users."
MyHeritage used some of the proceeds of its latest financing round for the acquisition. It will set up new commercial operations in London as part of the deal. Kindo subscribers will have access to MyHeritage's technology platform, such as its Smart Matching and automatic photo tagging.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 23, 2008
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