Infospace reportedly paid $7.5 million for GiantBear, to which venture capitalists had previously invested $34 million.
Wireless Week
GiantBear.com won't be trying to claw its way to the top of the heap anymore. Rather, it apparently is joining many of its wireless application service provider brethren in lapsing into extinction.
The White Plains, N.Y., company's assets--namely hardware and software associated with its network-based SMS and streaming services--have been scooped up by InfoSpace Inc., reportedly for $ 7.5 million. The Bellevue, Wash., company plans to add GiantBear's products to its array of carrier offerings. It also will pick up some of GiantBear's 75 employees.
"We thought this was the best outcome," says John Buttrick, a principal with LiveWire Corp., a GiantBear backer. "We thought the future of the business was better off in the hands of InfoSpace."
If GiantBear had not been sold, the company would have had to raise a third round of funding, Buttrick says. The company had secured two previous rounds, a $ 9 million first round in April 2000 and a $ 25 million second round in December 2000.
GiantBear's SMS service allows users to request information over their wireless phones simply by pressing the pound key twice, followed by a designated number. Using the global SS7 network standard as an input mechanism, the service can be used on all manner of phones, digital or analog, regardless of whether they are SMS-enabled.
InfoSpace is scheduled to take over the contracts GiantBear has with TeleCorp PCS, Rural Cellular Corp., Centennial Communications Corp. and Price Communications Corp. |
