VoIP firm Skype has reportedly paid $85 million for smartphone group text messaging service GroupMe, to put itself on competitive footing with rival messaging services from RIM, Apple and others.
GroupMe, launched just 370 days ago has seen its messaging system aped by the big boys of tech, including Facebook, Google and others. Founders Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht are now the newest members of New York’s startup success stories.
According to a blog post on the GroupMe website, the firm has been in talks with Skype for several months, mainly centering around potential commercial partnerships.
“As we got to know the core Skype team better, though, and as our conversations evolved, it quickly became evident that our visions were perfectly aligned. Both companies are focused on changing the way the world communicates and helping people stay in touch with the people they really know. With a shared vision — an ambitious one — we decided our efforts to own real-time communications and the real life network could be best executed as one company,” the post went on.
Of course, Skype was recently acquired by Microsoft, though that deal has not closed yet, making this a purely Skype centered acquisition for now.
By accepting the move, GroupMe is boosting its current user base by some 175 million monthly Skype users. For Skype, the service represents another step towards a more encompassing messaging service spanning text, phone and video chat.
