// startup autopsy

Namo Media

The native ad SDK that Twitter swallowed whole

acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Built a mobile ad SDK in a space directly threatened by Twitter/Google acquisition appetite, making independent scale near-impossible.

Founded	2013
Closed	2014
Country	USA
Sector	Developer tools

50%

Key Events Timeline

2013-01-01

FOUNDING

Namo Media founded in San Francisco to build native ad SDK for mobile app publishers.

2013-06-01

FUNDING

Raised $1.875M seed round to build out the native advertising SDK and grow publisher network.

2013-10-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Launched native ad SDK publicly, attracting early mobile app developer partners.

2014-07-01

ACQUISITION ATTEMPT

Twitter acquires Namo Media to integrate native ad capabilities into MoPub mobile ad platform.

2014-12-01

SHUTDOWN

Namo Media product discontinued as standalone offering; team fully integrated into Twitter.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

Namo Media built a native advertising SDK for mobile apps and raised a $1.875M seed round in 2013. However, the company was acquired by Twitter in July 2014, just months after its funding round. This acquisitio...

n was an acqui-hire, meaning Twitter primarily acquired the company for its talented team rather than to continue operating the product as an independent service. The Namo Media product was absorbed i

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€8M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

Namo Media raised €1.875M before built a mobile ad sdk in a space directly threatened by twitter/google acquisition appetite, making independent scale near-impossible. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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