Skype spend $85 million on GroupMe takeover

Skype are in the process of being taken over by Microsoft in a $8.5 billion deal. The latest news revolves around the upcoming takeover of GroupMe, a messaging start up company, by Skype.

The financial details of the takeover have not been announced but reports via All Things Digital would indicate figures in the region of $85 million. The GroupMe user base will be added to the 175 million people already using Skype.

GroupMe have only been in operation for a year now, and their software lets the end user message each other over mobile devices. There is no charge for their service. The company managed to raise $11.5 million from Lerer Ventures, Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst Partners.

Social networking is the hottest sector in 2011, with Microsoft aiming to go head to head with Facebook, Google and Apple with their purchase of Skype. Facebook have also announced their own group messaging app, Messenger, which is based on Beluga, a start up company they bought recently. Apple have announced iMessage for the upcoming iOS and Google have Google Voice.

Group messaging is the latest aspect of social networking that big corporations expect to boom in the next year, so all the major players are keen to have their own system in place, hoping that the public will latch onto their specific software.

GroupMe has already received positive feedback from both press and the public. Leading gadget site Gizmodo said that GroupMe was a “Lifechanger…. utterly indispensable…. Whether or not you think you need group texting in your life, you won't know how you lived without it once you give it a shot.”

Kitguru says: Do you already use Group messaging? If so, which?

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