Google acquires BumpTop
1 May 2010Dateline: Mountain View, California
Exits are exciting, and particularly when they involve Google on the buyside.
Although no one involved will talk about it, it sounds as though the owners of BumpTop sold their baby to Google over the past two weeks. One is able to deduce this, in part, by the fact that Microsoft no longer carries BumpTop as a BizSpark partner. Something that had been the case up until a short time ago. According to Microsoft, Bump asked to withdraw a few days ago. Travelling to Silicon Valley is a great way to come across the skinny back home.
Second, BumpTop quietly announced to its users yesterday that life was taking a different turn.
Given the arm wrestling going on between Apple and Google over who will have the sweetest user experience, Bumptop’s cool desktop and underlying technology are a natural piece of Google’s user interface puzzle as they prepare to take on the current kings of all consumer electronics. The ones down the street in Cupertino.
As to price, we can assume that it wasn’t above US$63 million, since the acquirer didn’t make a public announcement as might have been required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act had it broken that threshold. My guess is that the number comes in around US$35/40 million. Given the type of company it is, and what has been discussed on the grapevine over the past year, if it safe to say that $2 million to $3 million has been invested to date. No more than that. Let’s guess the VCs got half the business for their capital. What’s the all mean, sports fans?
The folks at Extreme Venture Partners, GrowthWorks and a Montreal-based angel (I think I have those right) appear to have achieved the magical “10 bagger” that defines success in the world of angel and venture capital investing.
You may recall that we wrote about BumpTop more than three years ago. Although I am generally wrong about most things, at least I was able to see the investment opportunity, if not the commercial application (see prior post “U of T BumpTop buzz” March 11-07):
If you know what BumpTop is, please let us know. One feels the burning need to finance it, even if there’s no obvious commercial need for whatever it is that they are trying to do.
I might have a career as a seed investor yet. Although it wasn’t clear at the time where the start-up fit into the UI universe, it sure got the attention of the folks in Silicon Valley.
For the “first fund” team involved (Extreme), this is a great example of the ability of Canadian seed stage venture capitalists to do their jobs exactly by the playbook. For Ontario’s GrowthWorks, it is just another reminder that good VC teams can pick ‘em, even if they work for a Labour-Sponsored Fund (see prior posts “The great LSIF myth” July 2-08 and “LSIF funds see another win as Microsoft acquires Opalis” Dec 27-09).
In Extreme’s case in particular, it also proves that their unique in-house incubator model can work. And BumpTop isn’t the first deal they’ve started and sold for a profit since things got rolling there a few short years ago.
It’s early days, of course, but a 10-bagger often defines a successful fund vintage, particularly when it’s not the only win in the portfolio. For all the protests that limited partners may make about putting their bucks into the Canadian venture capital asset class, I predict that greed may swamp fear once word gets out that XVP’s model is working as it should. If it were me, and you were investing my retirement savings or tax dollars (which many of you are), I’d take the leap of faith.
Congrats to everyone involved.
MRM
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25 Responses to “Google acquires BumpTop”
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
[...] Wellington Financial Blog is reporting that Google has purchased BumpTop for an as yet undisclosed amount, but the guess is around $40 [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:16 pm
[...] there is now a post by Canadian venture debt firm Wellington Financial speculating that Google did indeed buy them. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
[...] there is now a post by Canadian venture debt firm Wellington Financial speculating that Google did indeed buy them. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
[...] for transforming your desktop into a gorgeous 3D interface.The acquisition, first reported by Wellington Financial, brings some really innovative technology under the Google fold. BumpTop is also no longer going to [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
[...] for transforming your desktop into a gorgeous 3D interface.The acquisition, first reported by Wellington Financial, brings some really innovative technology under the Google fold. BumpTop is also no longer going to [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
[...] acquisition, reported by Wellington Financial, brings somereally innovative technology under the Google fold. BumpTop is also no longer going to [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:43 pm
[...] there is now a post by Canadian venture debt firm Wellington Financial speculating that Google did indeed buy them. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:44 pm
[...] there is now a post by Canadian venture debt firm Wellington Financial speculating that Google did indeed buy them. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
[...] there is now a post by Canadian venture debt firm Wellington Financial speculating that Google did indeed buy them. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
[...] Chris Arsenault, Mark MacQueen and Techcrunch to confirm that Google has indeed picked up Bumptop in a deal that closed this week. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:56 pm
[...] Wellington Financial Blog is reporting that Google has acquired BumpTop for an as yet undisclosed amount, but the guess is around $40 [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 6:13 pm
[...] McQueen, President and CEO of Canada’s Wellington Financial LP, thinks that the writing’s on the wall based on the fact that BumpTop just voluntarily [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:06 pm
[...] a screenshot). A post then appeared at the Wellington Financial blog speculating that the company had been acquired by Google, and the BumpTop website was later updated with confirmation of the [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:22 pm
[...] Wellington Financial estimated the sale at $35-40 million. [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:39 pm
[...] Venture Partners, and three angels: Andy Hertzfeld, Austin Hill, and G.R. Heffernan Associates. A post at the Wellington Financial blog speculates that the acquisition price was probably between $35 and $40 million, though that [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:12 pm
[...] Venture Partners, and three angels: Andy Hertzfeld, Austin Hill, and G.R. Heffernan Associates. A post at the Wellington Financial blog speculates that the acquisition price was probably between $35 and $40 million, though that [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
[...] bumptop | via wellingtonblog hp Akusisi, Android, Bumptop, Google, Hadirkan, Interface, pada [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
[...] Venture Partners, and three angels: Andy Hertzfeld, Austin Hill, and G.R. Heffernan Associates. A post at the Wellington Financial blog speculates that the acquisition price was probably between $35 and $40 million, though that [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:34 pm
[...] Venture Partners, and three angels: Andy Hertzfeld, Austin Hill, and G.R. Heffernan Associates. A post at the Wellington Financial blog speculates that the acquisition price was probably between $35 and $40 million, though that [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 9:02 pm
[...] a screenshot). A post then appeared at the Wellington Financial blog speculating that the company had been acquired by Google, and the BumpTop website was later updated with confirmation of the [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 9:21 am
[...] is on. It’s assumed that Google acquired Bump Top for about $ 35-40 million as reported by Wellington Financial. The company announced the acquisition on April 30th saying that the free download will be [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 10:07 am
[...] Financial noted the acquisition May 1 after finding this blog post from the [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:31 pm
[...] a screenshot). A post then appeared at the Wellington Financial blog speculating that the company had been acquired by Google, and the BumpTop website was later updated with confirmation of the [...]
May 4th, 2010 at 12:38 am
[...] into the mainstream tech consciousness in a major way on May 1st when Wellington Financial reported that BumpTop was being acquired by Internet an OS giant, [...]
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:26 am
[...] Wellington Financial estimated the sale at $35-40 million. [...]