Snapchat may have turned down more than $3 billion from Facebook to avoid acquisition, but it looks like it spent a hefty $15 million to quietly acquire a startup which builds a Google Glass-inspired product.
Recent Sony email leaks contain deal terms stating that ephemeral messaging app Snapchat paid $15 million for Vergence Labs, according to a Business Insider report. More specifically, it reportedly paid $11 million in cash and $4 million in stock.
Vergence Labs makes glass frames that record video with the press of a side button, much like Google Glass products do. Epiphany Eyewear, the line of frames in question, comes in various storage sizes, and costs between $300 and $500. You can only shoot video with the glasses (no photos!), but the company has software that can capture still photos from the video, which can also be uploaded to a computer and into an online account.
Vergence Labs was founded in 2011 by Jon Rodriguez and Erick Miller, who crowdfunded Epiphany Eyewear on Indiegogo in the summer of 2012.
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We’ve reached out to Snapchat and will update if we hear back.
