New York Times Sept 16
Remember 2008, when people at conferences and cocktail parties would bump their phones together to exchange digital business cards? Ever wondered what happened to that app, called Bump?
On Monday, Bump announced that it was acquired by Google.
Bump, despite raising $20 million from high-profile venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, struggled to find its footing. Google paid about $40 million for it, two people who had been briefed on the sale said. The companies did not disclose the price.
It reinvented itself several times, as a tool for exchanging business cards, then a social network, then a file-sharing service. Recently, it added a photo-sharing app called Flock. It also licensed its technology to other developers, who used it for things like exchanging money or sexual compatibility information by bumping phones.
Read more…