Speculation began to circle this week as to whether Captain Dash was in final discussions with Microsoft about an acquisition that would allow Captain Dash to launch internationally. The rumor was first mentioned in French web publication Petitweb‘s weekly newsletter, just one week after the an interview between co-founder Gilles Babinet and the publication. The newsletter also said that he plans to move to New York City, and claims his motives are unrelated to the current tax changes being proposed by the French government, which Babinet has openly opposed in previous months.
We reached out to Babinet, who declined to comment on the rumor.
Why would Microsoft purchase Captain Dash?
Captain Dash, launched in December 2010, describes itself as an unlimited dashboard for marketers, bringing together data on campaigns, reports, and even information about competitors all in one location. The simple goal is to bring data visualization to marketing, to be able to quantify.
If we think about this, the product, which is currently getting ready to launch a new Windows 8 version in the next week, fits perfectly with Microsoft’s new positioning: “Somewhere between business & cool.” The past few years have seen Microsoft trying to bring a cool, Web 2.0 touch to Windows, while remaining the primary computing source for business. I may be the only startuper I know who’s entire team using PCs, and two of us are rocking the Asus Zenbook. I’m also pretty sure my next phone will be a Windows Phone, as I constantly feel limited with the amount of work I can get done on my phone (and perhaps having a little less games on my phone wouldn’t be a bad idea either).
Captain Dash seems to be getting ready to announce things in the coming week, whether it be a new product, or, as Petitweb postulates, a sale to Microsoft. One thing’s for sure: if any news is going to be announced, it will be at/during LeWeb – we’ll be keeping an eye on things and will keep you posted as we hear back.
UPDATE: CAPTAIN DASH RESPONDS TO RUMORS IN BLOG POST
On the company’s blog, they have openly denied the rumor that either Gilles or Bruno Walther are in discussions with Microsoft about an acquision, or with anyone at all for that matter. Here’s an excerpt from the blog:
“Unfortunately for some of you we have to deny this rumor. Neither Gilles Babinet, nor Bruno Walther intends to sell the company because they do believe they still have major breakthrough to bring in on the Big Data/ Dashboards market.
These two guys have already shown their capacity to make huge exits but this time they feel they are on the edge of making something really BIG that is going to radically change the way people do marketing. This is one of the reason why they won’t sell the company at this stage.”
Looks like it’s upwards and onward for Captain Dash.