This incomplete list is frequently updated to include new information.
X, formerly and colloquially known as Twitter, is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables users to send and read "posts" (formerly "tweets"), which are text messages limited to 280 characters. Registered users can read and post tweets but unregistered users can only read them. Users access X through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. X was formerly an Independent company, as of April 23 2023, the company is owned by X Corp.
Summize was a search engine founded by Jay Verdy.[1] Using Twitter stock to fund the takeover, Twitter announced in July 2008 it had acquired Summize. Summize had six employees, all of whom joined Twitter except for Verdy.[1] The month of the acquisition, Twitter changed both its page for real-time searches and its search API to use Summize's product.[2]Wired said, "Summize is a natural fit for Twitter and should help the service be a little more approachable."[2]
2
November 24, 2008
Values of n
Social software development
Values of n was an information management software company founded by Rael Dornfest, who used to be O'Reilly Media's chief technology officer. I Want Sandy was an email app it created, while Stikkit was a virtual Post-it Note app it had released. It was an acqui-hire where Twitter wanted Dornfest, who for several months had been doing consulting for it, to join its user experience group. I Want Sandy and Stikkit were discontinued on December 8, 2008.[3][4]
Mixer Labs was a San Mateo, California, company that made geolocation provider software called GeoAPI.[7] It was founded in 2007 by Elad Gil and Othman Laraki, who had been former Google employees.[8] Given a tweet's latitude and longitude, its reverse geocoding product would output what the nearest intersection, neighborhood, and city. Over 16 million companies used its product at the time of the acquisition. Twitter's aim with the acquisition was to enhance its geotagging API with GeoAPI features.[9] Twitter paid for the acquisition using roughly $5million of stock, and Mixer Lab employees were invited to become Twitter employees.[10][11]
Atebits was a company that made Tweetie, a Twitter client that supported the iOS and macOS platforms.[13] It was established by former Apple Inc. iPhone software engineer Loren Brichter who became a Twitter employee following the acquisition.[14][15] At the time of the acquisition could be purchased for $2.99 on the App Store.[13] Renaming Tweetie to Twitter for iPhone, Twitter made the client free after acquiring Atebits. Fast Company called Tweetie "one of the best (if not the best) mobile Twitter app".[13]
Cloudhopper was a Seattle-based mobile messaging startup founded by Joe Lauer in 2008.[17] Twitter announced in April 2010 that it was acquiring Cloudhopper.[18] Both Lauer and Kristin Kanaar, the company's director of cloud integration, joined Twitter.[19] In the eight months preceding the acquisition, Cloudhopper was working with Twitter on using SMS carriers.[17] By purchasing Cloudhopper, Twitter aimed to bolster its SMS capabilities in managing the load from additional users who were globally distributed and numbering in the tens of millions.[20]
Smallthought Systems was a Vancouver-based database and analytics company based founded in 2005 by Avi Bryant, Andrew Catton, Ben Matasar, and Luke Andrews.[22][23][24] Before the acquisition, Twitter had used its products including the project management tool Dabble DB and the Google Analytics data parser named Trendly.[22][25] Twitter invited Smallthought, which had four employees at the time of the acquisition, to become Twitter employees.[22][25]
Fluther was a crowdsourced Q&A software company founded by Ben Finkel in 2007.[27] The website attempted to get questioners real-time answers and notify knowledgeable people of questions they likely could answer.[27] It was an acqui-hire where Twitter invited four engineers and a designer to join the company to do content discovery work.[28] It had one million monthly visitors and had received $600,000 in funding at the time of the acquisition.[27] Although Twitter did not purchase the Flutter Q&A tool itself, Flutter would continue independently, have no more work done it, and would be supported by an online community manager.[28]
TweetDeck was a software company founded by Ian Dodsworth in 2007 that made it easier for users to control their Twitter accounts.[30][31] The company was based in London's Old Street.[31] TweetDeck allows users to arrange their Twitter web feed based on chosen categories.[30][32] TweetDeck would group the messages in columns on the page.[32] Users could use the application to import data from Facebook and Myspace.[30] Dodsworth announced on May 25, 2011, that Twitter would purchase TweetDeck for roughly £25million (US$40million).[31] At the time of the acquisition, it employed 15 people who were largely based in the United Kingdom and was the second most common method to access Twitter through its 20million downloads.[30][31]The Independent said that Twitter, which had been unable to develop a good user interface, would be able to have one through TweetDeck. Another reason for the acquisition was that Twitter competitor UberMedia had been interested in acquiring TweetDeck, which Twitter wanted to prevent.[32]
AdGrok was an ads bidding platform founded by Antonio García Martínez, Matthew McEachen, and Argyris Zymnis.[34] AdGrok allowed Google AdWords users to make automatic bids for "contextual keywords".[35] AdGrok announced on May 31, 2011, that Twitter had acquired it.[34]TechCrunch reported that the acquisition price was slightly below $10million.[36] While co-founders McEachen and Zymnis joined Twitter, co-founder García Martínez joined Twitter rival the Facebook ads division as a product manager.[34] AdGrok closed its service on June 30, 2011.[37]VentureBeat said that AdGrok could help Twitter generate revenue from "promoted and trending tweets".[38]
BackType was a San Francisco-based social media analytics startup established in 2008.[39] Through its product, customers can conduct queries and aggregations of many social media and blogging services.[39] Twitter acquired BackType on July 5, 2011.[39]VentureBeat said that Twitter likely was interested in the company because of its BackTweet service that provides tweet analytics for publishers.[39] At the time of the acquisition, over 100 companies had been using BackType products, including The New York Times.[40] The company had raised $1million in funding.[40] BackType employees were invited to join Twitter.[41]
11
August 8, 2011
Bagcheck
Social sharing and discovery
Bagcheck was a social sharing company founded by Sam Pullara and Luke Wroblewski.[42] Pullara, Bagcheck's chief product officer, became a Twitter employee, while Wroblewski did not.[42] The product had the concept of "bags" which means a selected group of items such as photography equipment.[42] Through the platform, users could view and comment on others' bags and create their own bags.[42] For every item in users' bags, Bagcheck has an e-commerce website link to enable users to make an identical purchase.[43]VentureBeat suggested that Twitter purchased Bagcheck to contribute to its aim to make their own advertising platform.[44]
Julpan was a New York-based social media analysis company founded in 2010 by Ori Allon, who had previously sold a search algorithm he had created to Google.[46] The company concentrates on examining social media posts through platforms such as Twitter so that it can show users the most pertinent and latest material.[47][48] On September 21, 2011, Julpan said Twitter had acquired it.[46] Allon became a Twitter engineering director, while Julpan's 12 employees were invited to become Twitter employees.[46] The acquisition was for $40million, and Twitter integrated Julpan's technology to allow users to find in real time tweets about the latest subject matter.[49]
Squad was a technology startup providing live group video calling with cowatching. It was acquired by Twitter in December 2020.[104][105]It was founded by Esther Crawford, Ethan Sutin, who raised $7.2 million in seed funding from investors that included Y Combinator, First Round Capital, and Betaworks.[106] Squad's technology allowed users to view synchronized content during group video calls. Squad's core features will be integrated into the Twitter app.
OpenBack was a push notification platform founded by Christian Ryder, Nicolas Pabion and David Shackleton. The patented technology put privacy first by operating client-side on the users device.
