Google has acquired the Rennes-based startup Flexycore for $23 Million (€16.9 Million), according to L’Expansion[fr]. The startup provides optimization solutions applications, focusing on the smartphone market with a significant presence in the Android universe. The acquired team will be absorbed into Google’s Android team in order to improve Android’s less than smooth user interface in the future, as confirmed by a representative from Google France.
The acquisition is the first publicly announced acquisition since Google acquired Sparrow in 2012. While the acquisition amount was never publicly announced, the reported “less than $25 Million” value puts the acquisition of FlexyCore in the same ballpark neighborhood. FlexyCore had previously raised 1.5 Million Euros from Sochrastem, a Paris-based VC fund.
FlexyCore was founded in 2006 by Gilbert Cabillic, who previously did R&D for Texas Instruments via Inria, the public research institution in France. The company’s most popular product is DroidBooster.