Facebook has acquired a startup called Onavo, which is a mobile analytics company based out of Tel Aviv in Israel. The startup announced the acquisition on its website and though the details of the deal were not revealed, according to TechCrunch, the deal is believed to be worth somewhere around $100-$200 million.
The startup founded in 2010, has a wide variety of expertise including mobile app analytics and measurement for marketers, mobile security and data management and compression. Facebook is believed to be interested in the latter, which essentially optimizes the data being consumed on a smartphone and thereby maximize one’s data plan.
“Our service helps people save money through more efficient use of data, and also helps developers, large and small, design better experiences for people,” Onavo co-founders Guy Rosen and Roi Tiger wrote in the blog. The company’s existing employees will join Facebook and work at a new office— Facebook’s first in Israel.
In addition to optimizing its mobile apps, the acquisition of Onavo also falls in line with the philosophy of Internet.org, a group led by Mark Zuckerberg, which aims at making Internet connectivity less expensive and accessible to all. The Onavo co-founders added, “We’re excited to join their team, and hope to play a critical role in reaching one of Internet.org’s most significant goals – using data more efficiently, so that more people around the world can connect and share.”
