Google Buys Schedule Management Startup Plannr
According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, Google has just bought Seattle-based mobile planning startup Plannr, which if you remember our coverage launched about two months ago as an Outlook for hipsters.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's interest in time and events goes back years: it added public event search in late 2006 and bought the voice-startup GrandCentral in 2007, a deal that became Google Voice. Plannr fits that lineage — the Seattle startup had only been live about two months before sources say Google picked it up, pitching itself as 'Outlook for hipsters,' a mobile-first take on schedule management.
The timing matters less than the cadence: per CB Insights data cited alongside the report, this would be Google's 23rd acquisition of 2010, three-quarters of them venture- or angel-backed. The purchase price and terms are unconfirmed — the report rests on unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
First-order effects
- A roughly two-month-old Seattle team joins Google at speed, folding a young mobile planning product into Google's existing calendar and scheduling stack before Plannr ever proved standalone traction.
Second-order effects
- For venture- and angel-backed consumer-mobile founders, a fast exit to Google inside one funding cycle becomes a visible template, shaping what investors back and what price early teams hold out for.
Third-order effects
- If the 2010 pattern holds, independent scheduling and personal-productivity software consolidates into large platforms via acqui-hire, leaving startups competing against features rather than companies.
The trend: Google is running a high-tempo 2010 acquisition strategy that absorbs early-stage mobile and productivity startups as talent-plus-feature deals.