Internet search giant Google has acquired Flutter for a reported US$40m, to possibly integrate the start-up’s gesture-recognition technology into its Chromebook laptops and Nexus handheld devices.
Google has also confirmed the acquisition of Flutter, via The Next Web.
“We’re really impressed by the Flutter team’s ability to design new technology based on cutting-edge research,” a Google spokesperson said. “We look forward to supporting and collaborating on their research efforts at Google.”
Meanwhile, Flutter co-founder and CEO Navneet Dalal also confirmed the deal in a message on the Flutter website.
Dalal, who co-founded Flutter in 2010 in San Francisco, California, along with Mehul Nariyawala, said the company set out three years ago to build what he described as an “ubiquitous and power-efficient gesture-recognition technology”.
By many, he said this would have been considered just “a dream”, not a real possibility.
“Since then, we have strived to build the best machine vision algorithms and a delightful user experience,” he wrote.
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Even after the company launched its first app, Dalal said Flutter didn’t stop its research.
“Your enthusiasm and support pushed us to continue to do better.
“We’re inspired every day when we hear, for example, that Flutter makes you feel like a superhero – because any sufficiently advanced technology should be indistinguishable from magic, right?”
He said the company is “thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google”.
“We share Google’s passion for 10x thinking, and we’re excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey.
Flutter users will be able to continue to use the app.
