Search advertising giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has acquired smartwatch platform startup Cronologics for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition was likely an “acqui-hire,” bringing Cronologics’ cross-platform operating system knowledge in-house.
Expect some upgrades and input from the new team to show up in the next iteration of Android Wear.
San Mateo, California,-based Cronologics was founded in 2014 by CEO Leor Stern, Lan Roche and John Lagerling.
The company’s mission was to develop a new, cross-platform smartwatch OS (Operating System) that would integrate with a variety of existing platforms such as Android, Apple iOS (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Alexa system.
To-date, Cronologics had been able to include its Alexa-compatible technology in iMCO Technology’s CoWatch, which was called the ‘first smartwatch to use Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition.”
The two companies did not disclose the consideration for the deal.
It is likely Google paid under $10 million for the acquisition due to its very early stage of development.
According to the team at Cronologics, they saw “strong alignment with Android Wear’s mission…to continue pushing the frontier of wearable technology and smartwatches with Android Wear 2.0 and beyond.”
The deal has the earmarks of a typical “acqui-hire.” Google likely saw a talented team with some compelling ideas that it could use to move its wearable technology initiatives forward.
