Google shells out $23 Million to buy FlexyCore, the French startup behind DroidBooster
Google has acquired the Rennes-based startup Flexycore for $23 Million (€16.9 Million), according to L'Expansion[fr]. The startup provides optimization solutions applications …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google’s earlier acquisitions included ad-tech company AdMeld and mobile loyalty startup Punchd, showing that its dealmaking had reached both advertising infrastructure and consumer mobile services. Flexycore adds an application-optimization specialist and DroidBooster to that broader acquisition pattern.
The deal also lands amid public criticism of Google’s tight control over Android despite its open-source branding. Owning another optimization capability gives Google more influence over a layer that can affect the Android application experience.
First-order effects
- Google gains Flexycore’s DroidBooster optimization technology, while Flexycore’s founders and backers receive a $23 million exit.
- DroidBooster customers and partners face a change of ownership from an independent Rennes startup to Google.
Second-order effects
- Independent Android application-optimization vendors must compete against a capability owned by the platform’s steward, raising the value of neutrality for developers that do not want to depend on Google.
- Google can place application-performance know-how closer to its Android priorities, making optimization a more strategic part of the mobile software stack rather than a standalone startup product.
Third-order effects
- If platform owners continue acquiring specialist mobile tooling, the Android ecosystem may concentrate more of its performance-critical infrastructure inside Google, reinforcing concerns over practical control of an ostensibly open platform.
The trend: Mobile-platform companies are using targeted acquisitions to bring application-performance capabilities inside the platform stack.