// startup autopsy

Viewdle

Google saw its face — and bought it.

acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: Viewdle's independent growth stalled as its technology attracted acquirer interest faster than it could build a standalone business.

Founded	2006
Closed	2012
Country	USA
Sector	Developer tools

50%

Key Events Timeline

2006-01

FOUNDING

Viewdle founded to develop facial recognition and computer vision technology for mobile platforms.

2010-08

FUNDING

Raised $12M in funding to expand its facial and gesture recognition technology for mobile devices.

2011-05

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Launched commercial facial recognition SDK for Android devices, attracting significant industry attention.

2012-09

SHUTDOWN

Google acquired Viewdle in an acqui-hire deal, absorbing its computer vision IP and engineering team into Android development.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

Viewdle, a Ukrainian facial recognition startup founded in 2006 and later headquartered in Silicon Valley, was acquired by Google's Motorola Mobility division in October 2012 for an estimated $30-45 million acc...

ording to Bloomberg and TechCrunch reporting. The acquisition was motivated primarily by Viewdle's facial recognition and augmented reality patent portfolio rather than its commercial products, which

Verified lesson

“...”

Unlock full lesson →

€21.6M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

Viewdle raised €12M before viewdle's independent growth stalled as its technology attracted acquirer interest faster than it could build a standalone business. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

Unlock full analysis →Create free account

See all plans·Analyst plan — €149/mo