SlickLogin, developer of an identification mechanism using sounds, acquired by Google
Google acquires Israeli security startup SlickLogin — SlickLogin, an Israeli startup and developer of smart identification technology through user smartphones has been acquired by Google for several million …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google has been quietly assembling its security stack through small Israeli acquisitions: back in March 2011 it bought malware-analysis firm Zynamics, and this week it adds SlickLogin, whose technology turns a smartphone's ability to emit and hear high-frequency sounds into an identification mechanism, reportedly for several million dollars.
The pickup travelled unusually far for its size — TechCrunch, The Verge, Re/code, VentureBeat, BGR, IntoMobile, SiliconANGLE and ElectronistA all ran the story on or about February 16, 2014 — which says less about SlickLogin's revenue than about how closely the industry watches anything that promises an alternative to typed passwords.
First-order effects
- SlickLogin's founders join Google with their sound-based authentication technology moving in-house, folding a tiny independent team into Google's account-security and identity work.
- Any commercial plans SlickLogin had for selling its own verification product end immediately, since its technology is now a Google asset.
Second-order effects
- Vendors selling conventional second-factor hardware and SMS-based verification face a large platform owner experimenting with phone-as-token approaches that require no extra device for the user.
- Israeli security entrepreneurs get another data point that Google will buy small teams outright, reinforcing the acqui-hire path as a viable exit alongside raising venture rounds.
Third-order effects
- If major platforms keep acquiring novel authentication mechanisms rather than licensing them, identity verification consolidates inside a handful of account providers, with the password itself increasingly bypassed by device-proximity methods.
The trend: Large platform companies are building next-generation login through serial small acquisitions of niche authentication startups, with Israel emerging as a recurring source.